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Presented    by         OV)  e^    oA  mVV^  O  YT 


BS  525  .L3  1916 
Lansing,  John  A. 
Bible  interpretation,  or. 
The  Bible  its  own 


BIBLE   INTERPRETATION 

OB 

THE  BIBLE  ITS  OWN 
INTERPRETER 

S  i       MAY  24  1910 

WORD    STUDIES 
JOHN  A.  LANSING 


THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

CAMBRIDGE,  MASS. 


JesiLS  said,  My  teaching  is  not  mine,  hut  his  that  sent  me. 
If  any  man  mlleth  to  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  teach- 
ing, whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  from  myself. 

They  received  the  word  with  all  readiness  of  mind,  search- 
ing the  scriptures  daily,  whether  these  things  were  so. 

Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet,  and  a  light  unto  my 
path. 


Copyright,  1916 
Bt  John  A.  Lansing 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Foreword 5 

Death,  Sleep 7 

Good 12 

Evil 15 

Life 18 

Love,  Hate 21 

The  Creative  Days 24 

Eternal,  Everlasting,  For  Ever 27 

Eternal  Life 29 

God,  Creator 32 

Jehovah  God 33 

The  Son  of  God,  Jesus  Christ 36 

Glory,  Cloud     38 

The  Voice  of  the  Lord  (Jehovah) 41 

The  Repenting  of  God  and  Man 44 

Temptation 47 

Miracle 49 

The  Tree  of  the  Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil,  The 

Tree  of  Life 52 

The  Old  Serpent  Called  the  Devil  and  Satan  .    .  54 

Unquenchable  Fire,  Everlasting  Burnings  ....  56 

Gehenna  or  Hell 60 

Hades 64 

The  First  Adam,  The  Last  Adam 67 

The  Image  and  Likeness  of  God  in  Man 69 

Bible  Begettings 71 

Body,  Soul,  and  Spirit 74 

3 


Page 

The  Loss  of  the  Soul 77 

Sin 81 

Prophecy 85 

A  Time,  Times,  and  Half  a  Time 87 

The  Son  of  Man,  The  Thousand  Years 99 

The  Lamb  of  God 103 

National  Righteousness 106 

World  Righteousness Ill 

Personal,  or  Individual,  and  Universal  Righteous- 
ness      114 

A  Consuming  Fire,  Judgments 119 

The  New  Heavens  and  the  New  Earth 124 


FOREWORD 

THE  Bible  is  a  book  for  all  men.  It  is  not  for  the  exclusive 
use  of  scholars,  educated  persons,  or  any  single  class. 
Its  message  is  for  our  daily  life,  for  it  is  our  one  Book  of  Life. 
There  are  many  ways  of  approach  to  the  Bible,  many  methods 
of  study.  But  for  those  who  desire  to  know  what  the  funda- 
mental teachings  are,  there  is  a  plain  path  that  any  one  can 
follow.  Make  the  Bible  its  own  interpreter.  The  object  of 
this  book  is  to  give  those  readers  of  the  Bible  who  are  more 
or  less  puzzled  over  vital  truths  which  deeply  concern  them  a 
basis  and  a  method  of  study  by  which  they  may  get  a  clear  and 
consistent  sense  of  the  Bible  as  a  whole  and  of  its  teaching 
along  many  Unes.  This  little  volume  illustrates  this  method, 
and  the  way  that  the  writer  has  found  it  of  value  in  the  study 
of  the  Scriptures.  The  ''word  studies"  are  at  their  best  simply 
suggestive.  It  is  hoped  that  they  will  open  new  fountains  of 
living  waters  to  many  Bible  lovers. 

The  Bible  uses  words  that  are  of  universal  interest,  as  death 
and  life,  good  and  evil,  love  and  hate,  sin  and  righteousness, 
God  and  man,  angels  and  demons.  It  must  be  that  these  fun- 
damental words  and  others  like  them  should  be  viewed  from 
some  common  standpoint,  should  have  some  consistent  mean- 
ing. If  in  a  book  made  up  of  sixty-six  different  books,  written 
by  many  authors  who  lived  at  different  times  during  a  period 
of  fifteen  hundred  years,  these  fundamental  words  have  one 
steady  meaning,  it  shows  clearly  that  the  Bible  is  the  work  of 
one  mind,  of  men  of  one  sequence  of  thought,  inspired  by  the 
Holy  Spirit.  The  object  of  the  writer  is  to  illustrate  the  truth 
of  this  premise,  that  the  fundamental  words  of  the  Bible  find 
their  real  interpretation  in  the  Bible  itself;  and  that  in  this  re- 
spect the  Book  authenticates  itself,  a  premise  the  importance 
of  which  is  apparent  only  when  its  far-reaching  effect  on  per- 
sonal investigation  and  behef  is  perceived. 

5 


The  scholars  have  prepared  the  way.  By  a  critical  compari- 
son and  study  of  ancient  texts  they  have  provided  for  our  use 
a  Bible  with  exact  phraseology  and  careful  marginal  readings. 
With  the  Authorized  Version,  the  American  Revision,  and  a 
good  concordance  in  his  possession,  the  reader  is  equipped  with 
the  tools  with  which  he  may  go  far  in  the  region  of  Bible  inter- 
pretation, a  field  unequalled  in  interest  and  reward. 

The  method,  in  brief,  rests  upon  the  fact  that  the  Bible 
rarely  if  ever  defines  its  terms,  but  always  illustrates  them; 
that  the  root  meaning  can  be  traced;  and  that  this  root  mean- 
ing obtains  in  all  its  sixty-six  books  and  with  its  many  writers 
wherever  the  term  is  used;  and  that,  furthermore,  whenever 
there  are  derived  words,  or  even  different  ones  for  the  same  truth 
or  fact,  this  fundamental  sense  is  never  absent. 

The  studies  here  presented  take  a  few  of  the  words  found  in 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  words  that  are  fundamental,  and 
trace  them  through  the  Scriptures  showing  how,  in  each  case, 
what  is  beheved  to  be  the  root  meaning  carries  through  all  the 
passages  in  which  it  is  used.  This  is  the  fair  way  to  treat  the 
Bible,  to  judge  it  as  a  whole  on  its  great  basic  words;  it  is  a 
wonderfully  suggestive  way  as  it  leads  us  ever  anew  to  the 
conviction  that  this  book  is  indeed  the  Word  of  God,  written 
by  men  led  and  inspired  of  God,  dealing  with  universal  prob- 
lems, consistent  with  itself,  and  intelligible  to  us  all. 


yV-.  '^[jQA^yys^y^^^y^^ 


DEATH 

NO  word  touches  more  vitally  the  universal  human  experi- 
ence than  the  word  death.  Here  is  a  fact  with  which  we  are 
all  concerned,  a  mystery  on  which  we  are  all  seeking  light.  It 
is  characteristic  of  the  fundamentally  human  character  of  the 
Bible  that  we  meet  this  word  in  the  opening  chapter  of  its  first 
book  and  the  closing  words  of  its  last  book.  It  is  equally  char- 
acteristic of  the  unity  of  the  Bible  that  the  use  of  this  word  in 
Genesis  and  Revelation  and  in  the  many  passages  which  inter- 
vene is  mutually  self-interpretative. 

Let  us  consider  together  the  word  death,  with  its  parallel  sleep, 
as  we  meet  them  in  the  Bible  narrative  and  exposition.  The 
word  die  occurs  first  in  the  Eden  story,  in  the  word  of  God  to 
Adam  and  Eve  that  they  shall  not  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree 
of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  *'ye  shall  not  eat  of  it,  neither 
shall  ye  touch  it  lest  ye  die.''  ^'That  old  serpent,"  called  later 
the  Devil  and  Satan,  says  to  'Hhe  mother  of  aU  living,''  "Ye 
shall  not  surely  die/'  adding  that  God  knows  this.  The  man 
and  the  woman  ate.  Did  they,  in  our  sense  of  the  word,  die 
on  that  day?  No.  Adam  hved  to  be  nine  hundred  and  thirty 
years  of  age,  and  then  died.  But  if  the  word  of  God  stood,  he 
died  also  when  he  disobeyed. 

How  then  shall  we  define  the  word  death,  as  it  is  used  in  the 
Bible?  The  Bible  rarely  defines  its  terms.  It  illustrates  them. 
Words  in  themselves  are  pictures,  and  the  picture  tells  what  the 
word  signifies.  What  happened  in  Eden  when  the  first  parents 
went  counter  to  God's  will?  ''The  man  and  his  wife  hid  them- 
selves from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  God."  They  had  done 
what  had  been  forbidden,  and  as  a  result  had  a  keen  sense  of 
separation  from  God.  They  may  not  have  had  a  clear  under- 
standing of  why  they  felt  thus,  though  they  gave  reasons;  but 
the  voice  of  the  Lord  God  which  before  had  been  welcome,  now 
sent  Adam  and  Eve  from  Him  instead  of  drawing  them  to  E^m. 

7 


Since  the  word  of  the  Creator  was  that  in  that  day  they  should 
surely  die,  they  must  have  died.  Is  not  this  then  the  Biblical 
meaning  of  the  word  deaths  separation  where  it  was  not  before, 
a  new  experience? 

Let  us  test  this  idea  of  death  as  separation^  and  see  whether  it 
meets  the  Bible  use  of  the  word  and  of  the  thought,  and  our  own 
use  as  well.  If  it  does,  from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  we  have  a 
Biblical  interpretation  of  the  word  death.  If  by  it  we  can  unlock 
the  many  passages  where  the  word  is  found,  difficult  passages 
as  well  as  easy  ones,  we  shall  have  found  it  not  only  the  key  to 
this  one  word  study,  but  the  symbol  of  many  more  along  the 
same  line. 

Adam  died  at  nine  hundred  and  thirty  years  of  age;  the  soul 
left  the  body,  a  separation.  The  body  returned  to  the  dust 
from  which  it  had  been  made,  separated  itself  into  its  original 
elements  or  particles.  The  [Scriptures  speak  of  one  as  being 
dead  to  sin,  that  is,  separated  from  sin;  and  of  being  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  sins,  that  is,  separated  from  God  by  disobedience, 
as  was  Adam.  "As  in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be 
made  alive.''  That  this  is  true  all  know,  for  all  experience  a 
sense  of  separation  from  God.  The  son  who  played  the  part  of 
the  Prodigal  returns  to  his  father,  and  we  are  told  that  he  "was 
dead,  and  is  aHve  again."  He  had  separated  himself  from  his 
father's  house  and  all  that  pertained  thereto.  He  returned, 
"and  was  alive  again." 

You  can  traverse  the  whole  Scripture  story  from  Genesis  to 
Revelation  and  find  appUcations.  Passages  such  as  "whoso- 
ever hveth  and  beUeveth  on  me  shall  never  die,''  become 
luminous;  such  shall  never  be  separated  from  God.  The  separa- 
rateness  all  vanishes  when  you  are  told  that  death  cannot 
"separate  us  from  the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord."  You  see  a  Hght  from  Heaven  leaping  in  upon  that 
wonderful  passage  in  Revelation,  loved  of  us  all,  "And  there 
shall  be  no  more  death,"  for  a  time  has  come  when  the  order  of 
the  world  has  changed.  The  sorrow,  the  crying,  the  pain  which 
always.  Biblically  speaking,  spring  from  sin  cease,  and  never- 

8 


more  will  there  be  aught  but  what  there  was  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden.  God  tabernacles  or  lives  with  men;  as  once  with  Adam, 
so  now  with  the  race  redeemed,  individually  and  collectively. 
You  read  understandingly  that  triumphant  passage  in  Hebrews 
that  Jesus  suffered  death,  the  separation  of  soul  from  body,  his 
soul  in  Hades,  his  body  in  the  sepulchre,  that  He  might  destroy 
"him  that  had  the  power  of  death.''  You  understand  that  the 
last  enemy  that  shall  be  abohshed  is  death,  separateness  from 
God.  You  know  what  Jesus  meant  when  He  said,  "I  have  the 
keys  of  death  and  Hades,*'  for  He  it  is  who  has  ended  all  this 
separation  from  God.  You  even  approach  that  word,  so 
strange  and  solemn,  the  second  death,  and  see  the  Beast  (world 
powers),  the  False  Prophet  (false  rehgious  teaching),  and 
Hades  (that  has  had  power  to  hold  the  soul  separated  from  the 
body),  all  passing  with  those  who  are  of  their  train  where  under 
the  symbol  of  Fire  our  God  who  is  a  consuming  fire  enters 
upon  the  final  stage  of  His  plans  for  subduing  all  things  unto 
Himself.  (In  studies  of  the  words  fire  and  jicdgment  the  second 
death  finds  its  proper  setting.) 

SLEEP 

As  an  illustration  of  the  use  of  a  different  word  to  express 
the  same  truth  because  the  root  meaning  is  the  same,  take  the 
word  sleep,  used  for  death  so  freely  in  the  New  Testament  but 
found  equally  in  the  first  books  of  the  Bible.  Physically  as  well 
as  spiritually,  in  its  Hteral  everyday  usage  as  well  as  in  its  Bibli- 
cal interchange  with  the  word  death,  sleep  involves  a  separation. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  properties  of  this  unexplained 
physical  phenomenon  that  it  makes  a  break  in  our  fives.  We 
are  separated  in  our  sleep  from  our  work,  our  friends,  our  con- 
scious existence.  We  are,  as  it  were,  absent  though  we  are 
alive. 

The  Bibfical  use  of  the  word  sleep  as  a  parallel  with  death 
begins  with  Jehovah's  words  to  Moses,  "Behold,  thou  shalt 
sleep  with  thy  fathers."    To  Abraham  it  had  been  said,  "Thou 

9 


shalt  go  to  thy  fathers  in  peace;  thou  shalt  be  buried  in  a  good 
old  age,"  and  to  Moses  himself  that  he  should  die  in  the  mount 
and  be  gathered  unto  his  people.  Only  once  since  does  the  Bible 
tell  of  his  presence  on  earth,  when  Peter,  James,  and  John  saw 
Moses  and  Elijah  talking  with  Jesus,  and  "He  was  transfigured 
before  them."  From  the  time  of  Moses  ^' slept  with  his  fathers" 
becomes  the  common  phrase  recording  the  death  of  rulers  in  the 
books  of  Kings  and  Chronicles,  used  aUke  for  those  who  did  evil 
like  Ahab  and  Manasseh,  and  for  David  and  Jehoshaphat  who 
served  the  Lord. 

Its  use,  then,  by  Jesus,  in  the  story  of  the  raising  of  Lazarus 
has  a  background  of  customary  Hebrew  phraseology,  gaining 
on  His  Ups,  as  Old  Testament  language  so  frequently  did,  a 
new  power  and  a  new  significance.  "Our  friend  Lazarus  sleep- 
eth/'  He  said.  They,  taking  it  as  a  good  omen,  said,  "Lord,  if 
he  is  fallen  asleep,  he  will  recover."  "  Now  Jesus,"  the  narrative 
continues,  "had  spoken  of  his  death;  but  they  thought  that  he 
spake  of  taking  rest  in  sleep."  Then  Jesus  said  to  them  plainly, 
"Lazarus  is  dead.''  But  to  Martha  when  He  met  her.  He  said, 
"I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life;  he  that  believeth  on  me, 
though  he  die,  yet  shall  he  live;  and  whosoever  liveth  and  be- 
lieveth on  me  shall  never  die,"  The  word  sleep  takes  from 
death  its  tragic  sense  and  replaces  it  with  a  sense  of  rest  and 
quiet.  It  takes  on  an  added  significance  as  it  appears  in  St. 
PauFs  phrase  when  he  speaks  of  those  who  are  fallen  asleep  in 
Christ,  adding,  "But  now  hath  Christ  been  raised  from  the 
dead,  the  firstfruits  of  them  that  are  asleep.''  "We  shall  not  all 
sleep,"  he  writes,  and  again,  "But  we  would  not  have  you  igno- 
rant, brethren,  concerning  them  that /aZZ  asleep;  that  ye  sorrow 
not,  even  as  the  rest,  which  have  no  hope.  For  if  we  beheve  that 
Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so  them  also  that  are  fallen 
asleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him." 

Sleep  is  but  the  door  to  waking,  as  every  night  and  day  bear 
witness;  falling  asleep  in  Christ  is  but  the  prelude  to  being  no 
more  separated  from  Him,  but  being  with  Him  where  He  is. 
It  was  David  who  said  when  his  child  died,  "I  shall  go  to  him." 

10 


In  Hebrews  we  read  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  olden  time 
who  ''died  in  faith"  and  learn  that  we  are  compassed  about  by 
this  great  cloud  of  witnesses  as  we  go  our  homeward  way.  To 
questioners  of  to-day,  as  to  those  whose  thought  of  what  fol- 
lowed death  had  been  clouded  by  the  Sadduccees  and  Pharisees, 
Jesus  says,  "Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the 
power  of  God.  .  .  .  Have  ye  not  read  that  which  was  spoken 
unto  you  by  God,  saying,  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the 
God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob  ?  God  is  not  the  God  of  the 
dead  but  of  the  living  ...  for  all  live  unto  him." 

DEATH-SLEEP:  Gen.  2:17,  thou  shalt  surely  die;  3:2-5,  lest 
ye  die,  ye  shall  not  surely  die;  5:5,  Adam  .  .  .  died;  Rom. 
6:2,  we  who  died  to  sin;  I  Pet.  2:24,  having  died  unto  sins; 
Eph.  2  : 1,  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins;  I  Cor.  15: 22,  as  in  Adam 
all  die;  Luke  15:24,  this  my  son  was  dead;  John  11:26,  shall 
never  die;  Rom.  8:38,  neither  death,  nor  hfe  .  .  .  separate 
us;  Rev.  21:4,  no  more  death;  Heb.  2:14,  him  that  had 
the  power  of  death;  Rev.  1:18,  keys  of  death;  Rev.  2:11, 
20:6,  14;  21:8,  second  death. 

Deut.  31:16,  sleep  with  thy  fathers;  Gen.  15:15,  go  to  thy 
fathers  in  peace ;  Deut.  32  :  50,  die  in  the  mount  .  .  .  and  be 
gathered  unto  thy  people,  also  Num.  27:13;  I  Kings  2:10; 
11:21,43;  14:20,31;  15:8,24;  16:6,  28,  etc.,  etc.,  slept  with 
his  fathers;  John  11:11,  14,  Lazarus  sleepeth  ...  is  dead; 
11:25,  though  he  die,  yet  shall  he  live;  I  Cor.  15:18,  fallen 
asleep  in  Christ;  15:20,  firstfruits  of  them  that  are  asleep; 
15:51,  we  shall  not  all  sleep;  I  Thess.  4:13,  them  that  fall 
asleep. 

II  Sam.  12:23,  I  shall  go  to  him;  Heb.  11:13,  died  in  faith; 
12:1,  compassed  about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses; 
Matt.  22:32,  Luke  20:38,  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the 
living. 


11 


GOOD 

THE  word  good  is  first  found  in  the  story  of  Creation  when 
the  waters  were  gathered  into  one  place,  and  God  saw 
that  it  was  good.  As  the  creative  work  goes  on,  the  same  word 
is  used  with  all  that  grows  upon  the  earth,  all  that  is  in  the  sea, 
and  every  Uving  thing  upon  the  land,  as  well  as  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  for  signs,  seasons,  days,  and 
years,  till  finally  man  is  made.  Then  over  everything  that  He 
had  made  God  looked,  as  in  review,  and  behold  it  was  very  good. 

The  plain  sense  of  good  is  that  all  that  had  been  done  was  so 
planned  and  ordered  as  to  work  out  the  purpose  of  the  Maker. 
This,  then,  is  the  fundamental  idea  of  the  word  good.  The 
question  is,  Does  this  sense  continue  all  through  the  Bible? 
Can  we  follow  this  clue,  and  thus  come,  each  one  of  us,  to  a 
right  understanding  of  God,  man,  things?  Will  this  explain  to 
us  Scripture  passages  that  have  been  puzzling,  and  make  clearer 
the  meaning  of  hundreds  of  texts  where  this  word  occurs,  so 
that  our  reason  and  our  heart  aUke  will  be  at  rest? 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  we  use  the  word  good  constantly 
with  the  same  thought  in  mind.  A  good  watch  is  one  that  keeps 
good  time;  a  good  season  is  one  that  favors  sowing  and  reaping; 
a  good  day  is  one  that  harmonizes  with  our  plans. 

Good  is  the  word  of  harmony,  where  all  moves  in  unity  and 
without  friction,  in  a  way  that  neither  upsets  nor  interferes 
with  the  thought  of  him  who  says  "good'^  over  it.  If  there  is  a 
drought,  rain  is  good;  if  it  is  over-wet,  sunshine  is  good;  if 
there  is  work  to  do,  health  and  strength  count  as  good.  Now 
this  is  the  changeless  use  of  the  word  good  in  the  Bible. 

Jehovah  God  said,  "It  is  not  good  that  man  should  be  alone." 
So  the  woman  was  made.  Apply  this  method  of  interpretation 
to  St.  Paul's  quotation  from  the  Psalms,  "There  is  none  that 
doeth  good,  no,  not  so  much  as  one."  Does  this  mean  that  there 
is  no  good  in  men  taken  as  they  are,  or  that  their  doing  is  all 

12 


ill?  This  cannot  be,  for  Jesus  in  telling  the  disciples  the  parable 
of  the  sower,  says  as  he  explains  it  to  them,  that  the  one  who 
brought  forth  thirty-fold,  sixty-fold,  or  a  hundred-fold,  re- 
ceived the  Word  into  a  "good  and  honest  heart."  What  does 
that  signify  but  that  this  honest  soul  responded  to  what  he 
understood  to  be  the  way  and  call  of  God  as  good  soil  answers 
with  a  good  harvest.  There  was  good  there,  goodness,  if  you 
please. 

But  when  we  take  men  as  they  live  their  human  hves,  it  is 
plain  that  in  them  there  is  no  abiding  thought  of  God's  way 
or  wish  or  plan.  So  it  is  true  that  there  is  not  one  good,  not  one 
who  conforms  in  all  things  to  the  will  of  God,  and  thus  keeps 
the  perfect  harmony.  It  was  as  true  in  St.  Paul's  day  as  it  was 
in  the  day  of  the  Psalmist,  and  as  it  is  to-day. 

Man  was  to  be  fruitful,  to  multiply,  and  to  replenish  the  earth; 
he  was  to  subdue  it.  This  puts  the  divine  sanction  on  a  thou- 
sand things  men  do  and  have  to  do  in  hving  their  human  Hves. 
They  must  sow  their  seed  in  God's  seedtime  if  they  would  reap 
a  harvest.  They  must  Hve  in  families  and  work  humanly  to- 
gether to  bring  into  subjection  to  their  needs  the  things  that 
earth  and  sea  and  air  offer  for  their  food  and  raiment  and 
homemaking.  To  fail  here  is  to  fail  to  be  in  harmony  with 
God's  plan. 

Take  the  case  of  the  Young  Ruler  who  came  to  Jesus  and 
kneehng  said:  "Good  Master  [Teacher],  what  shall  I  do  that  I 
may  inherit  eternal  life?"  "Why  askest  thou  me,"  said  Jesus, 
"concerning  that  which  is  goodf^'  Or  "Why  callest  thou  me 
good?  None  is  good  save  one,  God."  Was  Jesus  not  good? 
Why  was  He  good?  Because  as  Master  [Teacher]  he  could  say 
in  His  teaching,  "All  things  that  I  have  heard  from  my 
Father,  I  have  made  known  unto  you."  Because  of  His  doing, 
He  could  say,  "I  do  always  the  things  that  please  him."  His 
was  the  life  and  His  the  words  that  were  ever  in  unity  with 
God's  plan,  and  so  were  good,  as  God  was  good.  So  "the  good 
man,  out  of  the  good  treasure  of  his  heart,  bringeth  forth  that 
which  is  good." 

13 


If  one  would  rightly  interpret  the  varied  ups  and  downs  of 
life  and  see  the  outcome,  let  him  recall  the  story  of  Joseph,  see 
him  sold  into  Egypt,  in  prison  and  released,  hear  him  as  he 
interprets  to  Pharaoh  his  dreams,  see  him  gathering  in  the  seven 
years  of  plenty  for  the  seven  years  of  leanness  that  were  to 
follow.  Then  follow  his  brethren  who  sold  him  to  the  hour 
when  they  stand  alone  with  him  in  the  royal  residence  in  Egypt 
and  hear  him  as  he  sums  up  his  and  their  lives  in  these  words: 
''And  Joseph  said  unto  them,  Fear  not;  for  am  I  in  the  place  of 
God?  And  as  for  you,  ye  meant  evil  against  me,  hut  God  meant 
it  for  good,  to  bring  to  pass  as  it  is  this  day,  to  save  much  people 
alive.  .  .  .  I  will  nourish  you  and  your  little  ones.  And  he  com- 
forted them  and  spake  kindly  unto  them,"  as  God  does  to  us. 

In  the  light  of  the  great  historic  facts  set  forth  in  this  story  of 
Joseph  and  of  what  followed  in  the  history  of  the  nations, 
Egypt  and  Israel,  as  we  read  of  it  four  centuries  later  in  the  time 
of  Moses,  we  are  quite  prepared  to  hear  St.  Paul  say,  "All  things 
work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God,"  for  the  good  pur- 
pose of  God,  he  tells  us,  was  that  we  might  be  "conformed  to 
the  image  of  His  Son,  that  he  might  be  the  firstborn  among 
many  brethren." 

GOOD:  Gen.  1:4,  10,  12,  18,  21,  25,  it  was  good,  31,  very  good; 
2:18,  not  good  that  man  should  be  alone;  Ps.  14:3,  Rom. 
3:12,  none  that  doeth  good;  Luke  8:15,  an  honest  and  good 
heart;  Mark  4:8,  good  ground;  Matt.  19:16,  good  Master; 
19: 17,  why  callest  thou  me  good?  None  is  good;  Matt.  12: 35, 
the  good  man,  out  of  the  good  treasure;  Gen.  50:20,  God 
meant  it  for  good;  Rom.  8:28,  work  together  for  good. 


14 


EVIL 

THIS  word  of  ill  omen  occurs  first  in  connection  with  the 
prohibition  to  Adam  and  Eve  as  to  eating  or  touching  the 
fruit  of  the  Tree  of  the  Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil.  What 
followed  ?  The  withdrawal  of  their  right  to  eat  of  the  Tree  of 
Life.  This  was  a  withdrawal  of  blessing.  Does  this  sense  of 
the  word  evil  hold  through  the  Scriptures,  or  some  sense 
plainly  similar,  as  the  absence  or  lack  or  want  of  good? 

The  word  comes  to  us  again  in  the  story  of  the  wickedness  of 
man  in  the  time  of  Noah.  Jehovah  saw  that  "every  imagina- 
tion of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only  evil  continually." 
Only  Noah  found  favor  with  God.  Here  followed  again  the 
withdrawal  of  God's  favor  and  the  judgment  which  overwhelmed 
the  world  that  then  was. 

On  a  scale  that  was  national  with  the  chosen  people  we  get 
the  same  word  illustrated  as  Moses  at  the  command  of  Jehovah 
repeats  the  blessings  and  the  curses  that  will  follow  their  walk- 
ing or  not  walking  in  the  statutes  and  ordinances  that  had  been 
given  them,  which  curses  and  blessings  the  people  repeated 
later  as  they  stood  on  Mount  Ebal  and  Mount  Gerizim  and 
covenanted  again  to  be  true  to  Jehovah. 

Hundreds  of  years  later,  in  the  time  of  the  good  king  Josiah, 
the  book  of  the  law  was  recovered  and  read  to  the  king.  He 
sent  a  messenger  to  Huldah  the  prophetess  to  inquire  concern- 
ing the  law  and  what  would  befall  Israel.  The  answer  was, 
"Thus  saith  Jehovah,  ^Behold  I  will  bring  evil  upon  this  place, 
.  .  .  evenall  the  words  of  the  bookwhich  the  king  of  Judah  hath 
read."  These  are  recorded  in  the  twenty-eighth  chapter  of 
Deuteronomy.  After  a  recital  in  detail  of  all  the  blessings, 
which  cover  in  detail  everything  that  is  desirable,  the  cursings, 
which  are  covered  by  the  one  word  evil  reverse  in  every  case 
the  blessings  promised  to  obedience.  Then  evil,  which  is  here 
blessings  withdrawn,  covers  the  whole  field  of  what  may  come 

15 


to  us  if  we  disregard  the  word  of  Jehovah.  Of  this  truth  Israersj 
history  is  the  standing  witness. 

We  are  here  then  in  an  order  of  things  that  is  subject  to  change 
by  God's  will  and  a  part  of  His  purpose  concerning  us.  "  Dehver 
us  from  evil,^^  the  prayer  taught  the  disciples  by  Jesus,  assumes 
new  meaning;  "overcome  evil  with  good"  becomes  the  only  way 
to  blessing  for  ourselves  or  others;  "  thinketh  no  eviV^  is  charged 
with  the  choice  for  us  of  always  seeking  to  see  the  good  in  others, 
and  not  their  lack.  The  evil  beast  that  Jacob  exclaimed  had 
devoured  his  Joseph,  when  the  brothers  brought  him  the  bloody 
coat,  becomes  evil  because  he  had  brought  this  great  sorrow  to  the 
father.  "Few  and  evil  have  been  the  days  of  my  pilgrimage," 
as  addressed  to  Pharaoh  by  Jacob,  recalls  the  long  hst  of  troubles 
that  had  come  upon  him  in  the  loss  of  his  beloved  Rachel,  his 
favorite  son  Joseph,  and  through  other  ruthless  acts  of  his  sons. 

We  begin  to  see  the  significance  of  such  phrases,  spoken  of 
rebellious  Israel,  as  "I  will  watch  over  them  for  evily^  or  "I  will 
set  my  face  against  you  for  mZ,"  and  once  more,  "wherefore 
hath  Jehovah  pronounced  all  this  great  evil  against  us?" 

The  Bible  answer  is  clear  and  sure.  When  Amos  prophesies 
of  the  downfall  of  the  great  cities  of  Damascus  and  Tyre,  he 
asks,  "Shall  evil  befall  a  city  and  Jehovah  hath  not  done  it?" 
When  Isaiah  begins  his  prophecies  as  to  Cyrus,  he  writes, 
"  Thus  saith  Jehovah  .  .  .  I  form  the  Ught  and  create  darkness. 
I  make  peace  and  create  evil.  I  am  Jehovah  that  doeth  all 
these  things."  What  things?  Read  the  forty-fifth  chapter  of 
Isaiah  and  we  are  answered.  Whether  the  sentence,  "I  create 
eviV^  puts  this  word  in  contrast  with  peace  and  so  refers  to  the 
conquest  and  overthrow  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus,  or  whether  it 
stands  in  contrast  to  peace  as  covering  all  the  discords  that 
come  where  good  is  absent,  is  not  material.  The  sentence 
stands.  Peace  and  evil  are  as  light  and  darkness.  The  absence 
of  light  creates  darkness;  the  lack  of  peace  creates  evil.  This 
is  not  unreasonable  to  us  who  make  and  create.  We  look  for 
wear  and  tear,  for  fracture  and  breakage,  and  we  know  full  well 
that  with  free  beings  this  going  counter  to  the  Creator's  plan 

16 


is  ever  going  on.  In  the  study  later  of  what  transpired  in  Eden 
we  may  find  the  secret  of  this. 

Just  how  in  the  administering  of  things  evil  comes  upon  us, 
is  not  material  and  may  vary.  For  example,  a  drought  brings 
out  of  the  earth,  *' which  was  cursed  for  man's  sake,"  pests,  as 
caterpillars,  grasshoppers,  or  other  destroyers  of  what  Httle  is 
left  for  man  or  beast.  That  is  an  evil.  Overmuch  rain  may 
bring  out  other  destructive  forces  from  Mother  Earth.  The 
Bible,  especially  in  the  Old  Testament  history  of  Israel,  illus- 
trates very  fully  the  idea  that  it  is  God's  restraining  hand  upon 
earth's  destructive  forces,  and  His  blessing  upon  other  forces 
which  makes  the  land  a  good  land,  fruitful  and  plenteous. 
The  same  thought  of  evil  as  a  lack  or  withdrawal  of  good  is  equally 
plain  in  such  passages  as  those  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Luke, 
"If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your 
children,"  evil  standing  for  lack  of  good  rather  than  a  positive, 
vicious  element,  and  ''when  thine  eye  is  single,  thy  whole  body 
also  is  full  of  Ught;  but  when  it  is  evil,  thy  body  also  is  full  of 
darkness,"  Ught  withdrawn.  The  evil  generation  of  the  days 
of  Jesus  and  the  evil  generation  of  the  days  of  Moses  have  this 
in  common:  they  went  counter  to  the  will  of  God  for  their 
time.  The  result  with  the  one  was  that  all  save  two  died  in 
the  wilderness;  that  with  the  other  is  summed  up  in  the  words, 
''Behold  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate." 

Further  studies  in  sin,  Hades,  temptation,  prayer  will  show 
more  clearly  the  uses  in  the  Bible  of  these  two  words,  good  and 
evil,  so  closely  joined  yet  so  widely  severed. 

EVIL:  Gen.  6:5,  every  imagination  was  only  evil;  II  Kings  22: 16, 
bring  evil  upon  this  place;  Matt.  6:13,  deUver  us  from  evil; 
Rom.  12:21,  overcome  evil  with  good;  I  Cor.  13:5,  thinketh 
no  evil;  Gen.  37:33,  an  evil  beast;  47:9,  few  and  evil;  Jer. 
44: 27,  watch  over  them  for  evil;  44  :  11,  my  face  against  you  for 
evil;  16:10,  pronounced  all  this  evil;  Amos  3:6,  evil  befall] a 
city;  Isaiah  45:7,  I  .  .  .  create  evil;  Luke  11:13,  If  ye  then, 
being  evil;  11 :  34,  when  it  is  evil,  thy  body  also  is  full  of  darkness; 
Deut.  1 :  35,  Matt.  12 :  39,  evil  generation;  Matt.  23 :  38,  left  desolate. 

17 


LIFE 

THE  Bible  is  a  book  of  lifey  the  life  of  God,  men,  angels, 
demons,  spirits,  and  living  things  in  their  mutual  rela- 
tions. It  tells  the  story  of  its  origin  with  God,  not  of  its  mys- 
tery as  it  is  hidden  in  Him,  but  of  God  as  its  source,  its  upholder 
in  its  many  forms  of  expressions,  and  of  the  way  it  operates  in 
its  manifold  productive  and  reproductive  unfolding. 

In  the  pictorial  first  chapter  of  Genesis  we  read,  "Let  the 
earth  put  forth  grass,  herbs  yielding  seed,  and  fruit  tree  bearing 
fruit  after  their  kind,  wherein  is  the  seed  thereof. ''  Again,  "God 
created  the  great  sea-monsters,  and  every  living  thing  that 
moveth  wherewith  the  waters  swarmed,  after  their  kind,  and 
every  winged  bird,  after  its  kind.  .  .  .  And  God  blessed  them, 
saying,  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  fill  the  waters  in  the  sea, 
and  let  birds  multiply  in  the  earth.'*  Once  more  God  said, 
*  *  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  H  ving  creatures  after  their  kind. ' '  The 
land  and  the  sea  were  thus  peopled  with  their  many  forms  of  life. 
The  source  of  their  life  was  God,  the  manner  of  its  continuance 
was  named,  each  after  its  kind.  Then  man  was  made,  and  into 
his  nostrils  God  breathed  the  breath  of  life.  Is  there  any  word 
that  could  more  clearly  and  simply  join  together  the  life  of  God 
and  of  man  than  this  single  statement,  "Jehovah  God  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life  and  man  became  a  living  souV*  ? 

In  this  statement  we  have  the  two  broad  lines  on  which  life 
is  treated  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  the  former  life  in 
its  broadest  sense,  the  Hebrew  word  chai,  the  breath  of  life,  the 
latter  nephesh,  used  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  of  every  beast 
of  the  earth  and  every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  everything  that 
creepeth  upon  the  earth,  the  same  word  which  appears  later  in 
the  phrase,  "  and  man  became  a  living  souV^  (For  both  these 
readings  see  the  margin  of  the  American  Revision.)  In  New 
Testament  Greek  the  word  used  for  life  in  general  is  zo'6,  while 
that  for  soul  life  is  psuch6.    In  this  study  we  trace  the  words 

18 


chai  and  zo'^;  in  a  later  study  we  trace  in  the  same  suggestive 
way  the  life  of  the  soul. 

Our  first  mention  of  man's  life  is  of  Jehovah  breathing  into 
his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  a  union  of  the  life  of  God  and  man. 
With  death  and  life  contrasted  in  our  reading,  the  thought 
comes  at  once  that  as  death  separates,  so  life  unites.  Let  us 
see  how  this  word  that  can  never  be  defined  is  illustrated  and 
note  if  we  are  right  in  thinking  that  it  will  be  the  word  of  union 
with  God,  a  word  of  jointness  with  the  source  of  our  Hfe  and  all 
lives.  Such  words  as  union  and  unity  prove  to  he  at  the  base 
of  all  that  the  Scriptures  teach  us  as  to  life  in  its  relation  to  Him. 
The  emphasis  Hes  throughout  on  the  Bible  fact  that  the  Maker 
never  takes  Himself  away  from  that  which  He  has  made.  His 
relation  to  all  life  is  personal  and  immediate. 

Take  the  life  of  earth.  Sun,  moon,  and  stars  are  given  to  us 
for  days  and  years  and  signs  and  seasons;  seedtime  and  har- 
vest are  appointed.  But  hear  the  word  that  Jehovah  spoke  to 
the  chosen  people  in  the  twenty-eighth  and  thirtieth  chapters 
of  Deuteronomy,  when  He  set  before  them  ''  life  and  good,  and 
death  and  evil."  Read  the  history  of  the  Israelites  and  see 
how  it  all  came  true.  Read  how  if  they  do  not  hearken  to  the 
voice  of  the  Lord  their  God  the  seasons  shall  fail  them.  They 
will  plant  vineyards  and  dress  them,  but  they  shall  neither 
drink  of  the  vine  nor  eat  of  the  grapes,  for  the  worm  shall  eat 
them.  They  will  have  olive  trees  throughout  their  borders,  but 
will  not  anoint  themselves  with  the  oil,  for  the  oHve  shall  cast  its 
fruit.  And  so  on  through  the  statement  of  that  which  would  be 
their  portion  if  they  should  forsake  Jehovah  and  His  ways.  It  is 
always  as  the  Psalmist  says,  "  He  openeth  His  hand  and  satisfieth 
the  desire  of  every  living  thing.  .  .  .  Thou  hidest  Thy  face, 
they  are  troubled.    Thou  takest  away  their  breath,  they  die." 

Pass  from  the  earth  and  its  life  to  man  and  his  life.  We  find 
that  everjrwhere  in  the  Old  Testament  all  life  comes  from  God 
and  is  sustained  by  union  with  God  and  the  word  of  God.  If 
you  turn  to  the  New  Testament  this  feature  becomes  so  marked 
that  you  are  ever  kept  in  mind  of  it. 

19 


Jesus  said,  "I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life,  and  might! 
have  it  more  abundantly."  It  comes  from  union  with  Him.  He  \ 
it  is  that  makes  all  the  light  that  comes  into  our  hfe.  He  is 
the  Word  of  whom  it  was  said,  "All  things  were  made  by  him. 
...  In  him  was  life;  and  the  life  was  the  Ught  of  men.  .  .  . 
This  is  the  Ught  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world."  No  one  is  omitted,  for  as  St.  Paul  says,  "As  in  Adam 
all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive.''  It  will  make  a  new 
Bible  of  the  old  book  to  get  away  from  all  that  separates  us  from 
God  in  the  way  we  think  of  life,  and  come  back  to  the  teaching 
of  the  Scriptures  that  all  life  is  now,  ever  has  been,  and  always 
will  be  in  our  union  with  God,  and  that  He  never  takes  His 
hand  from  that  direct,  present,  and  personal  relation  that  began 
in  Eden  and  ends  in  Revelation  with  God  dweUing  with  men. 

In  the  American  Revision  where  the  word  for  life  is  zoe,  no 
marginal  reading  is  given;  where  it  is  psuche,  the  word  soul  is 
commonly  given  in  the  marginal  reading,  though  not  always  and 
not  in  some  important  passages. 

As  illustrative,  you  will  find  that  where  the  new  word  eternal 
is  given  us  by  Jesus  in  connection  with  life  as  He  speaks  of 
eternal  life,  everlasting  life,  it  changes  the  whole  outlook  if  we 
note  that  the  word  He  uses  is  the  word  for  life  in  general,  the 
life  we  live  because  we  spring  from  God.  These  vital  distinc- 
tions will  appear  as  we  study  later  soul,  the  loss  of  the  soul,  and 
eternal  life. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  inseparable  union  between  God  and 
man  that  sustains  and  makes  possible  life  in  its  true  sense,  the 
sixth  chapter  of  John's  Gospel  offers  an  admirable  example, 
where  the  word  zo^  is  translated  life  throughout  the  whole 
chapter.  Here  Jesus  declares  Himself  to  be  the  bread  of  life. 
"The  bread  of  God  is  that  which  cometh  down  out  of  heaven 
and  giveth  life  unto  the  world.  .  .  .  For  this  is  the  will  of  my 
Father,  that  every  one  that  beholdeth  the  Son,  and  believeth 
on  him,  should  have  eternal  life.  ...  As  the  living  Father 
sent  me,  and  I  live  because  of  the  Father;  so  he  that  eateth  me, 
he  also  shall  live  because  of  me." 

20 


LOVE  -  HATE 

LIFE  in  its  broadest  sense,  including  all  living  creatures  and 
all  plant  life  that  has  seed  and  all  men,  is  in  union  with 
God,  but  it  is  not  of  choice.  We  are  born  into  this  world  by  no 
will  of  our  own.  We  usually  move  within  narrow  Umits  during 
our  earthly  course.  We  are  not  sure  of  the  age  or  the  time  at 
which  we  shall  go  out  of  this  world.  Indeed  no  better  summary 
of  the  fact  as  to  creation  as  a  whole  was  ever  written  than  that 
of  St.  Paul  when  he  said,  *'The  whole  creation  is  made  subject 
unto  vanity,  not  willingly,  but  by  reason  of  him  who  hath  sub- 
jected the  same  in  hope." 

Love,  on  the  other  hand,  is  union  by  choice,  "This  is  the  love 
of  God,  that  we  keep  his  commandments."  This  sentence  in 
the  first  Epistle  of  St.  John  comes  the  nearest  to  a  definition  of 
any  passage  in  the  Bible,  and  carries  with  it,  as  does  all  keep- 
ing the  commandments,  the  deUberate  choice  of  the  obedient 
one.  The  word,  however,  is  constantly  illustrated,  and  carries 
always  the  thought  of  union  by  choice  to  the  person  or  object 
loved. 

We  meet  the  word  first  in  God's  call  to  Abraham,  "Take  now 
thy  son,  thine  only  son  Isaac,  whom  thou  loves  f  How  this 
father  was  united  to  this  son  the  matchless  story  has  told.  It 
was  in  union  with  God  who  had  given  Isaac  to  ,him  as  a  child 
of  promise. 

Then  comes  the  story  of  the  love  of  Jacob  for  Rachel  and  how 
the  love  of  choice  over  custom  gave  him  Leah  first  and  Rachel 
after  seven  more  years  of  service  that  seemed  to  the  lover  but 
a  few  days  because  of  his  love.  The  story  of  David  and  Jona- 
than follows,  and  from  that  time  on  this  love  by  choice  goes  on 
in  ever-widening  and  ever-deepening  circles  till  at  last  it  is 
crowned  in  "God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son  that  whosoever  beHeveth  on  him  should  not 
perish  (Greek  word,  lose)  but  have  everlasting  life." 

21 


Apply  this  root  meaning  to  ^^Love  your  enemies.'^  When 
you  have  that  enemy,  you  choose  to  take  the  attitude  of  the 
Father  of  us  all  who  sends  His  rain  and  sunshine  on  all,  whether 
just  or  unjust.  Turn  to  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  First  Corin- 
thians. You  do  not  need  to  have  a  reservoir  of  the  love  that  is 
there  set  forth.  You  join  yourself  to  each  of  the  words  used,  the 
pictures  given,  because  you  choosey  and  thereby  lead  a  loving 
life,  as  the  occasion  calls  for  it. 

If  we  take  this  word  love  in  its  Bible  sense,  we  have  no  trouble 
with  its  opposite,  hate.  We  read,  for  example,  "Jacob  have  I 
loved,  and  Esau  have  I  hated/'  and  this,  as  we  are  told,  was 
before  they  were  born,  they  having  done  neither  good  nor  evil. 
All  that  it  signifies  is  that  in  the  carrying  out  of  His  plan  of 
reaching  all  men  with  His  redemption,  God  made  a  choice  of 
a  man  through  whose  posterity  He  would  work  out  the  problem. 
A  chosen  man,  a  chosen  nation,  whose  chief  glory  was  to  be 
that  to  them  were  committed  the  oracles  of  God,  and  whose 
crowning  glory  was  to  be  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  —  for 
this  Esau  was  not  chosen.  Hate  is  a  divisive  word,  and  that 
by  choice.  Esau  was  not  chosen,  but  he  was  blessed  of  his  father 
in  the  name  of  Jehovah,  and  so  are  his  descendants. 

So  Jacob  loved  Rachel  and  hated  Leah,  says  the  Bible  story. 
This  but  makes  Leah  the  one  whom  custom  and  the  laws  of  the 
family  made  his  wife.  She  was  not  Jacob's  choice;  Rachel  was. 
There  is  nowhere  in  the  interpretation  of  the  word  hate  as  it  is 
used  in  the  Scriptures  any  of  that  malevolence  that  our  use 
of  the  word  would  suggest.  Follow  out  this  way  of  reading. 
Everywhere  the  sense  of  the  two  words  is  the  same.  You 
love  by  choice,  full-orbed  deliberate  choice,  a  choice  which 
appears  in  the  suggestive  and  illustrative  text.  So  it  is  set  forth 
in  the  word  of  Jesus,  "No  man  can  serve  two  masters:  for 
either  he  will  hate  the  one  and  love  the  other;  or  else  he  will 
hold  to  the  one,  and  despise  the  other."  Take  as  a  clear-cut 
and  perfect  expression  the  passage  in  the  Gospel  according  to 
St.  Luke,  where  Jesus  says  to  the  multitudes  that  were  follow- 
ing Him,  "If  any  man  cometh  unto  Me  and  hateth  not  his 

22 


own  father  and  mother  and  wife  and  children  and  brethren 
and  sisters,  yea,  and  his  own  soul,  he  cannot  be  My  disciple." 
Interpret  the  word  liateth  in  the  Bible  way,  and  how  clear  and 
simple  is  the  sense.  Jesus  was  the  teacher;  the  disciples  were 
the  learners.  To  His  teaching  you  join  yourself  of  deUberate 
and  settled  choice;  by  that  act  you  separate  yourself  by  choice 
and  settled  purpose  from  all  teaching  other  than  His.  You 
face  your  own  soul  with  its  garnered  knowledge.  You  face  all 
your  natural  teachers  at  whose  feet  you  have  always  sat.  Your 
love  of  your  Chosen  Teacher,  whose  disciple  you  now  are  or 
would  be,  leads  you  to  test  by  His  words  all  that  you  know 
and  have.  You  say,  "  This  is  my  Master,  my  Teacher.  All 
goes  to  Him  for  testing."  You  have  hated,  you  have  loved  in 
the  Bible  sense. 

LIFE:  Gen.  1;  Gen.  2:7,  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of 
life;  and  man  became  a  living  soul;  Deut.  30:15,  life  and 
good;  John  10:10,  that  they  might  have  life;  1:3-9,  in  him 
was  life;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men;  I  Cor.  15:22,  in 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive;  John  6:33,  35,  40,  57,  giveth 
life  unto  the  world,  bread  of  life,  eternal  life.  I  live  because 
of  the  Father. 

LOVE-HATE:  I  John  5:3,  the  love  of  God;  Gen.  22:2,  Isaac, 
whom  thou  lovest;  29:20,  but  a  few  days,  for  the  love  he 
had  to  her;  John  3:16,  God  so  loved;  Matt.  5:44,  love  your 
enemies;  Mai.  1:3,  loved  Jacob,  hated  Esau;  Gen.  29:31, 
Leah  was  hated ;  Matt.  6 :  24,  hate  the  one,  and  love  the  other; 
Luke  14:26,  hateth  not  his  own  father,  and  mother. 


23 


THE  CREATIVE  DAYS 

IN  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  we  have  the  order,  the  succession 
of  Creation.  At  the  end  of  each  of  these  creative  processes 
we  have  these  words,  ''And  there  was  evening,  and  there  was 
morning,  one  day,''^  and  so  on  through  six  successive  days. 
There  this  form  of  statement  ends.  In  the  fourth  verse  of  the 
second  chapter  of  Genesis  we  read,  ''These  are  the  generations 
of  the  heaven  and  of  the  earth  when  they  were  created,  in  the 
day  that  Jehovah  God  made  earth  and  heaven."  Here  we  have 
the  six  days  of  Creation  spoken  of  as  o  day.  We  see  at  once 
that  we  are  measuring  duration,  not  by  days  of  our  reckoning, 
but  as  indefinite  periods.  The  six  cycles  of  God  that  were  named 
days,  from  the  first  to  the  sixth,  are  all  united  and  measured  as 
to  Creation  by  the  words  the  day.  How  long  each  of  the  six  days 
was  we  are  not  told;  no  more  can  we  say  what  is  the  duration 
of  "the  day"  which  comprises  them  all.  A  day  becomes  an  in- 
definite, unnamed  period.  By  analogy  it  would  appear  that  we 
are  living  in  this  seventh  day. 

But  what  follows  now  as  to  God?  He  rested  the  seventh  day. 
Rested  from  what?  He  blessed  the  day  and  hallowed  it,  set  it 
apart  from  all  the  days  that  had  preceded  it.  Then  He  "rested 
from  all  his  work  which  God  had  created  and  made."  It  was  a 
finished  work.  What  now  follows?  A  new  name,  Jehovah.  It 
is  the  way  of  the  Bible  to  speak,  when  God  is  the  One  who  is 
doing,  in  terms  like  these,  "God  who  quickeneth  the  dead  and 
calleth  things  that  are  not  as  though  they  were,"  or  again,  after 
John  had  written  of  things  which  were  to  be  in  a  far  future,  he 
said,  "They  are  come  to  pass,"  or,  as  it  is  in  the  Authorized 
Version,  "It  is  done." 

'v:  In  this  beginning  we  read  that  "no  plant  of  the  field  was  yet 
in  the  earth,  and  no  herb  of  the  field  had  yet  sprung  up:  for 
Jehovah  God  had  not  caused  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth,  and  there 
was  not  a  man  to  till  the  ground."    But  in  the  first  chapter  of 

24 


Genesis  man  had  been  made  in  the  image  of  God,  and  the  earth 
''  was  fruitful."  What  is  this  for  but  to  set  plainly  before  us  that 
for  humanity  there  was  to  be  a  seventh  day  as  there  had  been 
six,  and  that  in  that  seventh  day  God's  plan  and  purpose  as  to 
man  would  become  history?  The  duration  of  that  period  none 
could  tell.    It  was  hidden. 

A  single  phase  of  it  Jesus  said  was  known  only  to  the  Father, 
where  in  connection  with  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory  it  is  said,  ''But  of 
that  day  or  that  hour  knoweth  no  one,  not  even  the  angels  in 
heaven,  neither  the  Son,  but  the  Father"  (Mark  13:32).  Read 
now  the  commandment  given  to  Moses  (Exod.  20:8-11;  Deut. 
5 :  12-14)  in  the  light  of  the  word  day  as  God  sees  it  and  man 
knows  it,  and  see  how  they  agree.  In  Exodus  the  seventh  day 
was  to  be  the  rest  day,  because  ''in  six  days  Jehovah  made 
heaven  and  earth  .  .  .  and  rested  the  seventh  day:  wherefore 
Jehovah  blessed  the  sabbath  day  and  hallowed  it."  From  what 
were  they  to  rest?  From  all  their  six  days'  toil.  In  Deuteron- 
omy special  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  work  and  rest  of  servants  in 
these  words,  "And  thou  shalt  remember  that  thou  wast  a 
servant  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  Jehovah  thy  God  brought  thee 
out  thence  by  a  mighty  hand  and  by  a  stretched  out  arm: 
therefore  Jehovah  thy  God  commanded  thee  to  keep  the  sabbath 
da?/,"  that  is,  the  rest  day.  The  repetition  of  the  command- 
ment in  this  form  links  the  two  records  together  closely,  for  in 
Exodus  the  giving  of  the  ten  commandments  is  prefaced  by  the 
words,  "I  am  Jehovah  thy  God  who  brought  thee  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage."  It  was  to  be  a 
memorial  day,  a  memorial  both  of  the  fact  of  Creation  and  of 
their  great  deliverance.  Take  now  into  mind  the  adaptation  to 
man's  need  of  rest  every  seventh  day  and  what  it  commemorated, 
and  you  see  how  the  word  day  as  we  count  evening  and  morn- 
ing, toil  and  rest,  fit  human  needs,  and  you  get  the  things  that 
belong  to  this  sabbath  day.  Turn  to  other  of  the  days  appointed 
of  Jehovah  God.  There  is  a  day  appointed  in  which  Jehovah 
God  will  judge  the  world  (Acts  17:31).    It  is  not,  cannot  be,  a 

25 


day  like  man's  day;  rather  it  will  be  a  period  whose  length  we 
know  not.  Such  a  passage  is  that  where  Jesus,  reading  in  the 
synagogue  from  the  sixty-first  chapter  of  Isaiah,  begins,  "The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,'*  and  ends  with,  "to  proclaim 
the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord  [or  the  year  of  Jehovah's  good 
pleasure,  American  Revision,  marginal  reading].  To-day  hath 
this  scripture  been  fulfilled  in  your  ears"  (Luke  4:18-22). 
That  acceptable  year,  how  long  is  it?  No  one  knows.  It  is  one 
of  the  days  of  God.  If  Jesus  had  read  on,  the  next  sentence 
from  Isaiah  would  have  been,  "and  the  day  of  vengeance  of 
our  God."  When  does  or  did  that  day  begin  when  all  the  wrongs 
of  earth  were  to  be  righted?  It  is  another  of  the  days  of  God 
of  which  there  are  many  named  in  the  Scriptures. 

The  rest  day  of  Jehovah  God,  when  He  carries  out  His  purpose 
as  to  man,  and  man  becomes  what  the  words  in  the  last  six 
verses  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  set  forth  as  the  creative 
thought,  is  an  undefined  period,  as  were  each  of  the  six  days  of 
Creation.  "My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work,"  said 
Jesus  when  He  was  charged  with  breaking  this  rest  day  with 
His  work  of  healing  and  mercy.  The  day  of  God  in  the  Bible 
has  no  known  duration.  The  creative  work  of  the  six  days, 
the  marvels  of  the  natural  world,  are  but  introductory  to  the 
greater  marvel  of  the  new  creation  in  which  man,  who  is  first 
God's  workmanship,  is  to  be  a  co-worker  with  Him.  One  of  the 
signs  of  the  times  in  these  later  days  is  the  increasing  recognition 
of  this  creative  power.  In  the  taking  of  man  into  this  fellow- 
ship with  God  the  Father  and  His  Son  Jesus  Christ  it  was  pos- 
sible for  Jesus  to  say,  "Greater  works  than  these  shall  ye  do: 
for  I  go  unto  the  Father."  The  length  of  this  seventh  creative 
day  has  stretched  on  to  our  time.  Its  further  duration  and 
work  are  assured  to  us  by  the  promises  of  God. 


26 


ETERNAL  -  EVERLASTING 
FOR  EVER 

THE  key  to  the  root  meaning  of  these  three  words  is  found 
in  a  return  to  their  Greek  and  Hebrew  originals.  The  He- 
brew word  olam  and  the  Greek  word  axon  are  translated  ever- 
lasting, eternal,  and  for  ever.  There  is  no  equivalent  for  the 
Hebrew  word  olam  in  our  English  language,  but  for  the  Greek 
axon  we  have  the  word  won,  meaning  age.  In  the  Greek  and 
Hebrew  concordances  the  meaning  given  to  both  olam  and 
axon  is  age-long,  age-lasting,  which  is  therefore  the  root  meaning 
of  the  words  eternal,  everlasting,  and  for  ever.  The  duration  of 
the  age  must  consequently  be  determined  by  the  context  in 
each  case  where  the  English  words  are  found  in  either  the  King 
James  Version  or  the  American  Revision.  In  the  latter  the  word 
age  is  usually  found  as  a  marginal  or  explanatory  reading.  As 
the  discovery  of  this  root  meaning  in  the  passages  where  it  be- 
longs is  illuminating  in  our  personal  study  of  many  important 
texts,  a  Ust  of  significant  passages  in  which  these  are  the  Greek 
or  Hebrew  originals  is  given  on  page  31.  A  suggestive  grouping 
in  this  study  of  a  few  of  these  passages  will  give  a  hint  of  the  rich 
treasures  of  interpretation  which  further  analysis  will  reveal. 

The  word  everlasting  occurs  first  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  Gene- 
sis, where  Jehovah  made  an  everlasting  covenant  with  the  earth, 
of  which  the  rainbow  in  the  clouds  was  the  sign  and  the  re- 
minder. It  is  next  found  where  Jehovah  covenanted  with  Abram 
that  the  land  in  which  he  was  a  sojourner  was  to  be  given  to  his 
seed  as  an  everlasting  possession.  In  the  Book  of  Exodus  we 
read  of  an  everlasting  priesthood.  That  "continuance  without 
end"  is  not  the  sense  is  plain  from  the  Bible  itself.  The  priest- 
hood of  Aaron  is  no  more.  The  seed  of  Abram  has  not  been  in 
possession  of  Palestine  for  centuries.  This  was  an  age-long 
covenant,  lasting  as  long  as  did  the  age  in  which  and  for  which 
it  was  made.    The  priesthood  lasted  for  the  age  to  which  it 

27 


belonged.  "Blessed  be  Jehovah,  from  everlasting  and  to  ever- 
lasting^' means  from  age  to  age.  Everlasting  salvation  is  a  con- 
tinuous salvation,  not  passing  as  a  cloud.  Everlasting  dominion 
is  a  rule  that  does  not  change  as  does  world  rule;  it  is  stable  and 
righteous.  We  keep  the  idea  of  continuity,  but  we  need  not 
and  cannot  keep  always  the  thought  of  perpetuity.  The  ages  of 
God  are  known  only  to  Himself.  They  are  not  made  by  our 
calendars.  That  a  thousand  years  with  Him  are  as  a  day  when 
it  is  past  is  but  an  illustration  of  the  Bible  thought  as  to  duration. 

In  the  New  Testament  we  get  more  light  on  these  ceons,  ages. 
We  gain  a  new  insight  into  the  possibilities  of  this  interpretation 
when  we  merely  substitute,  as  is  so  frequently  done  in  the 
marginal  reading,  the  word  age  or  age-long  for  the  accustomed 
phrases  of  our  English  translations,  eternal,  everlasting,  and  for 
ever.  The  word  world  is  sometimes  used  as  a  translation  of 
this  same  Greek  original,  as  in  the  sentence  in  the  text  of  both 
our  versions,  "the  harvest  is  the  end  of  the  world/'  where  the 
marginal  reading  is  the  correct  one,  "to  the  consummation  of 
the  age.''  A  hint  at  St.  PauFs  use  of  this  word  is  found  in  his 
reference  to  the  ^'ages  to  come"  in  which  Christ  might  show 
the  exceeding  riches  of  His  grace.  St.  Paul  also  tells  the  Colos- 
sians  he  was  made  a  minister  to  them  according  to  the  dispen- 
sation of  God,  "to  fulfil  the  word  of  God,  even  the  mystery  which 
hath  been  hid  from  all  ages  and  generations."  Ages  and  genera- 
tions in  this  connection  plainly  indicate  limited  periods  of 
human  history. 

These  few  passages  will  open  up  the  field.  In  coming  studies 
the  words  in  their  relation  to  sin,  righteousness,  and  prophecy 
will  be  treated  more  in  detail.  From  the  list  of  these  and  other 
significant  passages,  page  31,  and  the  marginal  readings  of  the 
American  Revision,  the  reader  will  make  his  own  application. 


28 


ETERNAL  LIFE 

THE  soul  of  man  is  restless.  In  vain  does  it  seek  for  stable 
ground  on  which  to  plant  itself  and  thereby  come  to  rest. 
In  the  midst  of  this  comes  One  who  tells  us  of  eternal  life.  As 
applied  to  life  this  is  a  new  word  in  the  Scriptures.  It  begins 
now  in  the  present,  the  age  in  which  we  live.  It  is  enduring. 
It  passes  on  into  the  age  which  follows,  the  age  to  come.  It 
goes  steadily  on  with  Jesus  Christ  into  the  ages  that  lie  still 
ahead  of  this  and  the  coming  age.  Here  is  what  men  desire, 
that  for  which  the  imfettered  soul  ever  cries,  and  towards  which 
every  soul  looks  at  times  with  longing  and  hope. 

This  life  eternal  is  a  gift;  it  is  to  be  laid  hold  upon,  and  it  may 
be  lost.  That  this  gift  may  be  accepted,  this  life  laid  hold  upon, 
and  the  soul  thus  come  into  its  possible  possession  is  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Bible.  The  Greek  word  for  life  used  with  the  adj  ectives 
eternal  and  everlasting  is  zoe.  (See  pages  18-20.)  The  use  of  the 
words  eternal  and  everlasting  by  Jesus  places  them  in  the  present 
and  the  future  also,  as  we  are  not  accustomed  to  do  in  our  com- 
mon speech.  We  see  them  in  the  immediate  present,  as  when 
Jesus  says,  ^'Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you.  He  that  heareth 
my  word,  and  believeth  him  that  sent  me,  hath  eternal  life,  and 
cometh  not  into  judgment,  but  hath  passed  out  of  death  into 
life,"  or  again,  "He  that  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood 
hath  eternal  life."  These  are  those  who  believe  and  who  appro- 
priate to  themselves  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  They  have  entered 
into  the  knowledge  and  experience  of  that  which  is  stable  and 
enduring.  This  is  taught  still  earlier  in  this  Gospel  in  the 
testimony  of  John  the  Baptist  as  to  Jesus,  ''He  that  believeth 
on  the  Son  hath  eternal  life:  but  he  that  obeyeth  [believeth] 
not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on 
him."  To  this  testimony  we  may  add  that  of  the  First  Epistle 
of  St.  John,  where  John  says,  ''And  the  witness  is  this,  that 
God  gave  unto  us  eternal  life^  and  this  life  is  in  his  Son.    He 

29 


that  hath  the  Son  hath  the  life;  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of 
God  hath  not  the  Ufe."  Here  we  see  plainly  that  the  entrance 
into  and  the  having  of  this  life  is  conditional.  It  is  in  the  first 
verses  of  this  Epistle  that  we  have  the  testimony  of  John, 
speaking  for  himself  and  other  witnesses,  as  to  the  eternal  life  as 
manifested  to  them  in  Jesus  Christ,  *'the  life  was  manifested, 
and  we  have  seen,  and  bear  witness,  and  declare  unto  you  the 
life,  the  eternal  life,  which  was  with  the  Father,  and  was  mani- 
fested unto  us."  The  kind  of  life  that  came  to  earth  and  was  the 
life  of  the  only  begotten  Son,  this  is  the  life  that  abides,  this 
the  eternal  life.  It  is  an  inner  life  which  neither  falters  nor  fails. 
It  is  within  us  as  a  well  of  water  springing  up  and  expressing 
itself  in  us,  so  that  we  know  neither  hunger  nor  thirst.  We  are 
satisfied.  It  is  a  gift  to  those  who  know  and  follow  the  Good 
Shepherd,  who  says,  "I  give  unto  them  eternal  lifeJ^  Its  rela- 
tion to  the  soul  of  man  and  its  life  is  set  forth  by  Jesus  when  He 
says,  ^'He  that  hateth  his  soul  in  this  world  shall  keep  it  unto 
life  eternaV*  Only  as  men  die  to  their  own  doings  and  do  the 
will  of  the  Father  will  their  souls  come  to  rest.  Put  before  us 
in  another  form,  these  words  point  the  way,  "He  that  soweth 
unto  his  own  flesh  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption;  but  he 
that  soweth  unto  the  Spirit  shall  of  the  Spirit  reap  eternal  life.^' 
That  it  is  a  free  gift  we  are  assured  by  the  same  apostle,  who 
exhorts  his  son  Timothy  to  lay  hold  upon  it,  for  it  is  Ufe  indeed. 
That  it  may  be  missed  is  the  message  of  God  to  the  world,  a 
message  sent  with  and  by  the  only  begotten  Son,  ''that  who- 
soever believeth  on  him  should  not  perish  [lose]  but  have  eternal 
life,  for  God  sent  not  the  Son  into  the  world  to  judge  the  world; 
but  that  the  world  should  be  saved  through  him."  For  this 
Jesus  prayed,  "Father,  the  hour  is  come;  glorify  thy  Son,  that 
the  Son  may  glorify  thee:  even  as  thou  gavest  him  authority 
over  all  flesh,  that  whatsoever  thou  hast  given  him,  to  them  he 
should  give  eternal  life.  And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  should 
know  thee  the  only  true  God,  and  him  whom  thou  didst  send, 
even  Jesus  Christ." 

30 


AGE,   AGE-LONG,   AGE-LASTING 

{As  translated  in  significant  passages) 

AGES:  Eph.  2:7,  the  ages  to  come;  Col.  1:26,  mystery  hid  from  all 
ages;  I  Cor.  10:11,  Heb.  9:26,  end  of  the  ages. 

EVERLASTING:  Gen.  9: 16, 17:7, 8,  everlasting  covenant,  everlasting 
possession;  Exod.  40:15,  Num.  25:13,  everlasting  priesthood;  Ps. 
106:48,  from  everlasting  to  everlasting;  Isa.  33:14,  45:17,  ever- 
lasting burnings,  everlasting  salvation;  Dan.  7:14,  everlasting 
dominion. 

EVER,  FOR  EVER:  Gen.  3:22,  13:15,  live  for  ever,  to  thy  seed  for 
ever;  Exod.  3: 15,  my  name  for  ever;  Dan.  7: 18,  the  kingdom  for 
ever;  Matt.  6: 13,  the  glory  for  ever;  Rev.  4: 9, 14: 11,  for  ever  and 
ever. 

ETERNAL:  Matt.  18:8,  19:29;  25:41,  46,  eternal  fire,  eternal  life, 
eternal  punishment;  Mark  3:29,  10:17,  30,  eternal  sin,  eternal 
life;  Luke  10:25,  16:9,  18:18,  30,  eternal  Hfe,  eternal  tabernacles; 
John  3:15,  16,  36;  4:14,  36;  5:24,  39;  6:27,  40,  47,  54,  68;  10:28; 
12:25,  50;  17:2,  3,  eternal  Ufe,  Ufe  eternal;  Acts  13:46,  48,  eternal 
fife;  Rom.  2:7,  5:21,  6:22,  23,  eternal  hfe;  Gal.  6:8, 1  Tun.  1:16, 
6:12,19,  Titus  1:2,3:7,  eternal  Ufe;  IJohn  1:2,  2:25,  3:15,  5:11, 
13,  20,  eternal  Ufe;  II  Thess.  1:9,  eternal  destruction;  Heb.  13:20, 
eternal  covenant;  Jude  7,  eternal  fire. 

WORLD:  Matt.  12:32,  neither  in  this  world;  13:22,  care  of  the 
world;  13:39,40,49;  24:3,  28:20,  end  of  the  world;  Mark  4: 19, 
cares  of  this  world;  10:30,  world  to  come;  Luke  16:8,  20:34,  sons 
of  this  world ;  18 :  30,  world  to  come ;  20 :  35,  that  world ;  Rom.  12 : 2, 
conformity  to  this  world;  I  Cor.  2:6,  not  of  this  world;  2:7,  before 
the  worlds;  3:18,  in  this  world;  10:11,  the  ends  of  the  world; 
Gal.  1:4,  this  present  evil  world;  Eph.  1:21,  not  only  in  this  world. 


31 


GOD -CREATOR 

IN  the  beginning  God  created.  The  creation  is  our  first  thought 
as  to  God.  He  creates.  Man  was  made  in  His  image  and  was 
given  dominion.  So  for  our  second  thought  of  God  we  have 
power,  control,  dominion.  These  two  conceptions  are  always 
associated  in  the  Bible  with  the  word  God.  (See  also  ''The 
Creative  Days/'  page  24.) 

In  the  first  chapter  of  Romans,  Paul  the  apostle,  that  Hebrew 
of  the  Hebrews,  tells  us  that  "the  invisible  things  of  him  since 
the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  .  .  .  even  his  eternal 
power  and  Godhead.' '  He  later  says  that  ''of  him,  and  through 
him,  and  unto  him,  are  all  things";  that  "there  is  no  power  but 
of  God,"  and  that  "then  cometh  the  end  .  .  .  that  God  may 
be  all  in  all."  His  kingdom  will  have  been  established,  all  rule 
and  authority  have  been  abolished,  and  the  kingdom  be  de- 
livered to  "God,  even  the  Father,"  or,  by  the  marginal  reading, 
to  "the  God  and  Father,"  and  God  will  be  "all  in  all."  In 
this  glimpse  of  the  future  we  are  where  we  were  in  the  first 
verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  The  resurrection  is  past, 
and  we  are  with  God  who  is  all  in  all,  the  Father  as  well  as  the 
Creator  of  all,  and  now  in  all.  In  the  first  chapter  of  Romans 
we  read,  "Knowing  God,  they  glorified  him  not  as  God."  Now 
that  is  all  changed.  The  imfolding  of  man's  history  as  con- 
nected therewith  is  written  between  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis 
and  the  last  chapter  of  Revelation. 

In  the  carrying  out  of  His  eternal  purpose,  "the  King  eternal 
[of  the  ages,  marginal  reading,  American  Revision],  immortal, 
invisible,  the  only  God  manifests  Himself  in  many  ways.  In 
the  Old  Testament  He  appears  first  as  God  in  the  creative  life 
and  as  Jehovah  in  the  subsequent  dealing  with  man  on  the 
earth  (treated  in  the  following  study).  The  history  of  the  cove- 
nant people  and,  measurably,  of  other  peoples  passes  before 
us  with  the  name  God  appearing  often,  but  far  more  frequently 

32 


joined  with  the  name  Jehovah.    So  of  these  names  jointly  or 
singly  in  prophecy. 

In  the  wonderful  picture  of  Wisdom  in  the  eighth  chapter  of 
Proverbs  we  are  told  that  Wisdom  was  present  at  what  we 
know  as  Creation.  In  Colossians  we  read  of  the  "Father"  and 
the  "son  of  his  love  .  .  .  who  is  the  image  of  the  invisihle  God, 
the  firstborn  of  all  creation,'*  and  we  approach  the  creation  of 
God  from  God  manifest,  as  we  do  in  the  name  Jehovah.  We 
are  again  in  the  presence  of  God  in  His  creative  work  as  we  read 
the  first  chapter  of  Hebrews,  with  the  Father  and  the  Son  as 
the  only  begotten.  As  God  "bringeth  in  the  firstborn  into  the 
world"  [the  inhabited  earth,  marginal  reading,  American  Re- 
vision], as  this  becomes  a  part  of  the  history  on  earth  of  the 
redemptive  plan,  He  says,  "Let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship 
him."  Once  more  in  the  manifestation  of  God  in  creation  we 
turn  to  the  first  chapter  of  John's  Gospel,  and  we  have  the 
Word  without  whom  "was  not  anything  made  that  hath  been 
made."  This  name,  together  with  Christ  and  Jesus  Christ, 
belongs  to  a  later  study.  (See  page  36.)  That  which  is  clear 
is  that  the  name  God  is  throughout  the  Bible  joined  to  creation 
and  to  authority  over  it,  with  all  which  that  implies.  Further 
manifestations  are  associated  with  other  names. 

JEHOVAH  GOD 

THE  names  given  to  God  as  He  manifested  Himself  to  man 
can  be  counted  by  hundreds  in  the  Bible.  A  few  of  these 
names  are  ever  on  our  lips,  as  Father,  Son,  Holy  Spirit  from  the 
New  Testament,  and  God  and  Jehovah  God  in  the  Old.  To 
trace  out  what  is  done  under  each  manifestation  is  well  worth 
careful  study. 

The  name  Jehovah  first  appears  in  the  Scriptures  in  the  sec- 
ond chapter  of  Genesis,  and  is  joined  there  to  the  name  God. 
This  name  continues  throughout  the  chapters  that  tell  us  of 
Adam  and  reappears  scores  of  times  in  the  Old  Testament.  All 
through  the  Old  Testament  Jehovah  in  the  Hebrew  takes  the 

33 


place  of  the  name  Lord  as  joined  to  God,  it  being  indicated  in 
the  marginal  reading  of  the  American  Revision  that  wherever 
the  word  LORD  appears  (put  in  capitals  thus)  the  word  in  He- 
brew is  Jehovah.  The  combination  Jehovah  God  is,  indeed,  so 
common  that  to  find  it  otherwise  is  the  exception. 

What  does  this  name  Jehovah  signify  as  thus  used?  In  the 
second  chapter  of  Genesis  we  have  these  words,  "  In  the  day  that 
Jehovah  God  made  earth  and  heavens.''  Here  the  name  is 
joined  to  the  creative  work  ascribed  to  God.  Again  we  read 
that  Jehovah  God  ''had  not  caused  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth," 
the  name  here  being  linked  to  earth's  fruitfulness.  We  are  told 
that  Jehovah  God  formed  man,  planted  a  garden,  issued  a  com- 
mand. Then  follows  the  making  of  woman,  the  appearance  of 
the  serpent  with  what  came  after  until  Adam  and  Eve  are 
dispossessed  of  Eden.  In  all  this  record  it  is  Jehovah  God  that 
speaks  and  acts.  What  does  this  tell  us  of  the  name  Jehovah? 
That  man  and  the  earth  where  he  was  to  live  were  in  the  hands  of 
Jehovah.  The  making  of  man  and  his  destiny  went  with  this 
new  name. 

Of  illuminating  significance  in  the  study  of  any  name  is  the 
time  when  it  was  given.  There  was  always  a  special  time; 
there  were  always  events  with  which  it  was  first  associated. 
Names  were  born,  as  it  were,  and  held  ever  after  in  remem- 
brance. An  example  of  God's  withholding  for  a  time  a  name  by 
which  He  was  later  to  be  known,  and  giving  a  name  which  would 
always  be  used,  is  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Exodus  in  connection 
with  this  name  Jehovah.  "And  God  spake  imto  Moses,"  the 
narrative  runs,  ''and  said  unto  him,  I  am  Jehovah;  and  I 
appeared  unto  Abraham,  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob  as  God 
Almighty;  but  by  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known  to  them." 
So  in  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Genesis  we  read,  "And  when 
Abram  was  ninety  years  old  and  nine,  Jehovah  appeared  to 
Abram,  and  said  unto  him,  I  am  God  Almighty;  walk  before 
me,  and  be  thou  perfect."  The  use  of  the  two  names  Jehovah 
God,  but  with  Jehovah  ever  in  the  lead  dealing  with  Israel,  His 
son,  went  on  steadily  until  the  time  of  Moses,  reaching  its  point 

34 


of  revelation  as  to  the  meaning  and  contents  of  the  name  when 
Jehovah  said  to  Moses,  ''I  know  thee  by  name  ...  I  will 
make  all  my  goodness  pass  before  thee,  and  I  will  proclaim  the 
name  of  Jehovah."  This  was  the  proclamation,  "Jehovah, 
Jehovah,  a  God  merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering  and  abun- 
dant in  goodness,  and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands  (of 
generations),  forgiving  iniquity  and  transgression  and  sin;  and 
that  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty;  visiting  the  iniquity  of 
the  fathers  upon  the  children,  and  upon  the  children's  children 
upon  the  third  and  the  fourth  generation."  Read  on  in  Israel's 
history  and  learn  of  Jehovah.  Learn  the  inner  meaning  of  these 
words  that  let  Moses,  and  through  him  us,  into  the  secret  places 
where  God  dwells,  and  from  these  secret  places  back  into  Je- 
hovah's world  of  earth  and  men  as  He  cares  for  them.  Thus  you 
will  come  into  a  knowledge  of  and  more  personal  sense  of 
Jehovah. 

GOD :  Gen.  1 : 1,  In  the  beginning  God;  Rom.  1 : 20,  his  eternal  power 
and  Godhead;  11:36,  of  him,  and  through  him,  and  to  him;  I  Cor. 
15:24-28,  then  cometh  the  end  .  .  .  that  God  may  be  all  in  all; 
Rom.  1:21,  knowing  God,  they  glorified  him  not  as  God;  I  Tim. 
1:17,  the  only  God;  Prov.  8:22-31;  Col.  1:12-15,  the  invisible 
God;  Heb.  1:1-7,  as  God  bringeth  in  the  firstborn;  John  1:1-3, 
the  Word  was  God. 

JEHOVAH  GOD:  Gen.  2:4,  in  the  day  that  Jehovah  God  made 
earth  and  heaven;  2:5,  7,  8,  16,  etc.,  caused  rain,  formed  man, 
planted  a  garden,  commanded;  Ex.  6:2,  3, 1  am  Jehovah  .  .  .  but 
by  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known;  33: 19, 1  will  proclaim  the 
name  of  Jehovah;  34:6,  Jehovah,  Jehovah,  a  God  merciful,  etc. 


35 


THE  SON  OF  GOD,  JESUS  CHRIST 

FOR  the  study  of  names  like  these,  brief  papers  are  not  ade- 
quate, for  the  reason  that  the  Bible  as  a  whole  is  the  written 
record  of  their  manifestation  and  meaning.  To  gather,  however, 
strong  passages  which  interpret  the  names  which  fall  into  one 
group,  such  as  the  Son  of  God,  the  Only  Begotten  Son,  the  Son 
of  His  Love,  the  Word,  Jesus,  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  is  helpful  and  suggestive  in  a  study  of  the  unfolding  of 
this  progressive  revelation. 

These  names  take  us  into  the  realm  of  Sonship  which  belongs 
to  Him  of  whom  John  said,  ''God  so  loved  the  world  that  he 
gave  his  only  begotten  Son";  of  whom  Paul  wrote  as  ''the  son 
of  his  love,"  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first  born  of  all 
creation,  in  whom,  through  whom,  and  unto  whom  all  things 
were  created,  who  "is  before  all  things,  and  in  him  all  things 
consist  [hold  together]"  (Col.  1:13-17).  We  are  brought  into 
the  presence  of  the  "Son,  whom  he  appointed  heir  of  all  things, 
through  whom  also  he  made  the  worlds  [ages] ;  who  being  the 
effulgence  of  his  glory  and  the  very  image  [impress]  of  his  sub- 
stance, and  upholding  all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power, 
when  he  had  made  purification  of  sins,  sat  down  at  the  right 
hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high"  (Heb.  1:2,  3).  We  are  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John,  reading  that  "in 
the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and 
the  Word  was  God.  The  same  was  in  the  beginning  with  God. 
All  things  were  made  by  him;  and  without  him  was  not  any- 
thing made  that  hath  been  made.  In  him  was  life;  and  the  life 
was  the  light  of  men  .  .  .  the  true  light,  even  the  light  which 
lighteth  every  man  coming  into  the  world."  In  almost  the  last 
chapter  of  the  same  Gospel  we  learn  not  only  why  these  first 
words  were  given  us,  but  why  the  Gospel  itself  was  written: 
that  many  of  the  signs  which  Jesus  did  are  not  written  in  it, 

36 


"but  these  are  written,  that  ye  may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God"  (John  20:30).  Add  to  these  words  a 
quotation  from  the  passage  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians 
(2:4-11),  where  we  ourselves  are  taught  not  to  look  every  man 
to  his  own  things,  but  each  man  also  to  the  things  of  others  by 
the  example  of  Christ  Himself,  as  He,  in  the  heavens  and  from 
the  heavens,  prepares  for  His  entrance  as  Christ  Jesus  into  our 
world.  "  Have  this  mind  in  you  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus, 
who,  being  [being  originally]  in  the  form  of  God,  counted  it  not 
a  prize  to  be  on  an  equality  with  God,  but  emptied  himself, 
taking  the  form  of  a  servant  [bondservant],  being  made  in  [be- 
coming in]  the  likeness  of  men;  and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a 
man,  he  humbled  himself,  becoming  obedient  even  unto  death, 
yea,  the  death  of  the  cross.  Wherefore  also  God  highly  exalted 
him,  and  gave  unto  him  the  name  which  is  above  every  name; 
that  in  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in 
heaven  and  things  on  earth  and  things  under  the  earth  [of  the 
world  below],  and  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  Lord  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father/' 

In  the  names  here  set  before  us  we  have  those  that  are  most 
familiar  in  our  Christian  life,  save  one,  known  to  us  as  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Holy  is  the  word  given  in  the  Old  Testament  to  things 
devoted  to  and  set  apart  for  God's  service.  Apply  this  funda- 
mental sense  to  this  name  and  we  have  God  who  is  Spirit  sep- 
arating Himself  as  Spirit  and  devoting  Himself  to  the  work  of 
the  world's  salvation.  This  makes  possible  that  imiversal  and 
world-wide  moving  on  every  man  and  all  men  which  could  not 
be  otherwise  accomplished.  The  name  Jehovah  of  the  Old 
Testament  belonged  especially  to  what  is  recorded  there,  and 
has  now  for  its  equivalent  the  Lord  and  Christ  of  the  New 
Testament,  the  two  united  into  one  by  that  Hebrew  of  the 
Hebrews,  St.  Paul,  when  he  speaks  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
The  manifestations  as  Jehovah  were  limited  relatively,  as  re- 
corded in  the  Bible,  to  Israel  and  other  nations  as  connected 
with  Israel;  the  ministration  of  Jesus  in  the  world  was  of  neces- 
sity locaUzed.    The  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  universal.    All 

37 


these  manifestations  are  plainly  shown  by  the  succession  of 
passages  to  be  one  in  a  progressive  revelation. 

In  their  presence  we  look  back  to  the  words  "  Let  Us  make  man 
in  Our  image,  after  Our  Ukeness."  We  see  in  the  ''Us^'  and  the 
^'Our'^  the  names  under  which  the  plural  manifestation  of  God 
was  to  be  made.  We  get  a  glimpse  of  the  significance  of  the 
words  spoken  concerning  man  when  he  had  done  that  which 
was  forbidden,  and  Jehovah  God  said,  "Behold  the  man  is  be- 
come as  one  of  Us  to  know  good  and  evil."  We  may  not  know 
the  mystery  hidden  in  the  word  God,  but  we  can  see  and  are 
invited  to  look  upon  these  names  as  its  unfolding. 


GLORY -CLOUD 

ONE  of  the  striking  things  in  the  language  of  the  Bible  is 
its  use  of  all  the  things  we  see  in  the  heavens  and  upon  the 
earth  as  pictures  by  which  to  teach  men  what  God  would  have 
them  know.  Figurative  language  is  constantly  employed  for 
the  setting  forth  of  the  many  things  which  we  need  to  be  taught. 
None  the  less  does  it  teach  us  literal  truth.  It  is  simply  that 
form  of  teaching  in  which  children  delight  and  of  which  grown 
people  never  tire.    Above  all,  it  is  easily  understood. 

The  word  glory  is  an  illustration.  When  its  real  sense  is  seen, 
we  find  hidden  in  it  a  proper  imderstanding  of  very  many  scrip- 
tures that  are  strange  and  mysterious  at  first  sight.  We  read 
that  "the  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  .  .  .  day  unto  day 
uttereth  speech,  and  night  unto  night  sheweth  knowledge." 
What  is  meant?  Turn  to  the  first  use  of  the  word  in  the  Book 
of  Exodus.  The  congregation  had  murmured  because  they  had 
no^flesh  to  eat.  An  abundance  is  promised,  and  the  token  of  its 
fulfilment  is  in  these  words,  "And  it  came  to  pass,  as  Aaron 
spake  .  .  .  the  glory  of  Jehovah  appeared  in  the  cloud." 
Again,  where  Moses  is  told  by  Jehovah  to  come  up  into  the  Mount 
of  God  and  receive  the  tables  of  the  law,  this  is  the  record  of 
what  came  to  pass  when  he  went:  "And  the  glory  of  Jehovah 


abode  upon  mount  Sinai,  and  the  cloud  covered  it  six  days.  .  .  . 
And  the  appearance  of  the  glory  of  Jehovah  was  like  devouring 
fire  ...  in  the  eyes  of  the  children  of  Israel."  In  these  three 
representative  passages  from  Holy  Writ  we  have  the  meaning 
of  the  word  glory,  so  often  used  in  the  Scriptures.  There  is  a 
visible  showing,  a  sensible  manifestation,  of  the  Invisible. 

Take  this  thought  with  you  to  the  glory  that  appeared  over  the 
tabernacle  where  were  the  tables  of  stone  which  had  been  given 
to  Moses  on  the  mountain.  Go  with  it  to  the  story  of  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  temple  built  by  Solomon,  which  was  filled  with  the 
glory  of  Jehovah.  Attach  this  fundamental  sense  to  the  prophecy 
that  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  fill  the  whole  earth.  What  have 
you?  This  —  that  He  whom  no  mortal  eyes  can  see  will  mani- 
fest Himself  in  sensible  ways  to  the  children  of  men. 

Read  again  of  our  being  changed  ''into  the  same  image  from 
glory  to  glory,  even  as  from  the  Lord  the  Spirit,'^  and  you  see  it 
to  be  the  thought  of  Him  who  made  us  that  we  should  ever  more 
and  more  make  manifest  the  things  of  God,  the  things  of  the 
spirit,  the  things  invisible.  Light  falls  upon  such  an  expression 
as  "Israel,  my  glory, ^'  for  Israel  was  set  as  no  other  people  to 
show  forth  the  things  invisible.  You  begua  to  see  a  special  truth 
hidden  away  in  the  declaration  that  man  is  ''the  image  and 
glory  of  God."  He  is  to  reveal  God.  All  "fall  short  of  the 
glory  of  God";  they  have  failed  to  make  manifest  the  invisible 
God.  The  Bible  teaching  is  that  all  that  is  made  has  its  highest, 
its  true  expression  when  showing  forth  the  things  invisible,  and 
that  for  man  to  show  forth  God  in  visible  ways  is  as  with  Jesus 
the  crown  of  living. 

The  word  dond  is  found  in  so  many  of  the  most  highly  prized 
and  wonderful  of  scripture  passages  and  is  so  closely  linked  with 
this  word  glory  that  its  meaning  needs  to  be  kept  clearly  in  mind. 
Each  passage,  read  in  its  own  setting,  will  speak  for  itself.  Note, 
for  example,  the  pillar  of  cloud,  that  hung  over  the  children  of 
Israel  as  they  started  on  their  wilderness  journey.  It  stood  be- 
tween them  and  Pharaoh's  armed  host  as  they  camped  on  the 
borders  of  the  sea;  it  was  overhead,  a  protection  from  the  sun, 


a  grateful  shade  in  the  treeless  waste.  A  cloud  rested  upon 
Mount  Sinai  when  the  commandments  were  given.  What  was 
the  cloud  then?  The  presence  of  Jehovah,  but  a  veiled  presence. 
So  when  Daniel  saw  in  the  night  visions,  he  saw  the  Son  of 
Man  coming  "with  the  clouds  of  heaven."  When  we  read  of 
the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  as  announced  by  Jesus,  it  is  ''on 
the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory. ^^  On  the 
occasion  of  the  disappearance  or  ascension  of  Jesus,  "a  cloud  re- 
ceived him  out  of  their  sight. '^  These  and  other  Scriptures  all 
carry  the  same  idea,  a  presence,  but  a  presence  that  is  veiledj 
seen  in  part,  hidden  in  part,  not  a  full  manifestation. 

Glory  J  then,  points  us  always  in  the  Bible  to  a  visible  showing 
of  things  invisible  or  of  one  not  seen.  Even  the  glory  of  God  as 
revealed  "in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ"  awaits  a  more  complete 
manifestation.  When  joined  to  cloud  or  clouds  there  is  the 
added  thought  of  a  veiling.  Read  the  Scriptures  with  this  in 
mind,  and  a  harvest  will  be  gathered  for  your  comfort  and  en- 
lightenment which  it  will  take  many  days  to  reap  and  store. 

GLORY  —  CLOUD :  Ps.  19: 1,  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God; 
Ex.  16: 10,  the  glory  of  Jehovah  appeared  in  the  cloud;  Ex.  24: 16,  17, 
the  glory  of  Jehovah  abode  on  Mount  Sinai;  Ex.  40: 34,  35, 1  Kings 
8:11,  the  glory  of  Jehovah  filled  the  tabernacle,  filled  the  house; 
Hab.  2: 14,  the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  glory  of  the  Lord;  II 
Cor.  3: 18,  into  the  same  image,  from  glory  to  glory;  Isa.  46: 13,  Israel 
my  glory;  I  Cor.  11:7,  as  he  is  the  image  and  glory  of  God;  Rom. 
3:23,  all  fall  short  of  the  glory  of  God;  Ex.  14: 19,  20,  the  pillar  of 
cloud  came  between;  13: 22,  pillar  of  cloud  by  day;  24: 15,  16,  the 
cloud  covered  the  mount;  Dan.  7:13,  with  the  clouds  of  heaven 
one  like  unto  a  son  of  man;  Matt.  24:30,  the  Son  of  man  coming 
on  the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory;  Acts  1:9,  a 
cloud  received  him  out  of  their  sight;  II  Cor.  4:6,  the  glory  of 
God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ. 


40 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  LORD 
(JEHOVAH) 

"  A  ND  they  heard  the  voice  of  Jehovah  God  walking  in  the 
't\  garden  .  .  .  and  Jehovah  God  called  unto  the  man  and  said 
unto  him,  Where  art  thou?"  A  voice  indicates  a  presencey  the 
presence  of  one  who  would  talk  with  the  one  who  hears.  On  from 
the  time  of  the  Eden  story  the  Old  Testament  illustrates  the 
thought  that  God,  Jehovah,  talks  with  man  as  man  with  his 
fellowman.    There  is  a  presence,  there  is  speech. 

Jehovah  talked  with  Abram  and  made  a  covenant  with  him; 
so  frequent  was  the  converse  between  them  that  this  man  is 
known  as  the  Friend  of  God.  Moses  talked  with  Jehovah  face  to 
face,  and  when  he  came  from  his  forty  days  spent  on  the  Mount 
his  face  so  shone  that  the  people  could  not  look  upon  it,  and  he 
veiled  it  as  he  talked  with  them.  A  presence!  The  child  Samuel 
ministered  unto  Jehovah  before  Eli,  ''and  the  word  of  Jehovah 
was  precious  [rare]  in  those  days.''  Three  times  Jehovah  spoke 
his  name,  and  at  the  third  call  Samuel  said,  ''Speak;  for  thy 
servant  heareth."  There  was  a  presence,  a  voice.  It  might  be  in 
vision,  or  in  dream,  or  as  at  Sinai  where,  while  the  trumpet 
waxed  louder  and  louder,  "Moses  spake,  and  God  answered 
him  by  a  voice. ^^  In  a  crisis  hour  in  the  life  of  Moses  he  said  to 
Jehovah,  "Now  therefore,  I  pray  thee,  if  I  have  found  grace 
in  thy  sight,  shew  me  now  thy  ways  that  I  may  know  thee." 
Jehovah's  answer  was,  "My  presence  shall  go  with  thee." 
Jehovah  was  not  in  the  wind,  the  earthquake,  or  the  fire,  as 
they  passed  before  Elijah,  but  there  came  a  "still,  small  voice," 
and  Elijah  wrapped  his  face  in  his  mantle  and  went  out  to  hear 
what  Jehovah  would  say  to  him. 

Turn  now  to  the  Gospels  and  hear  Jesus  say,  "  I  am  the  good 
shepherd;  and  I  know  mine  own,  and  mine  own  know  me,  even 
as  the  Father  knoweth  me,  and  I  know  the  Father."    It  is  the 

41 


same  thought  of  each  knowing  the  other  as  Jehovah  knew 
Moses  and  Moses  knew  Jehovah.  Nothing  could  be  more  inti- 
mate. Prayer  is  the  way  to  this  knowledge,  as  it  was  with 
Moses  and  Abraham.    "I  pray  thee"  was  their  language. 

Read  the  sixth  chapter  of  Matthew's  Gospel.  The  Pharisee, 
praying,  has  received  his  reward.  You  are  bidden  not  to  pray 
thus,  but  in  secret;  not  to  be  seen  of  men.  Then  come  the  fa- 
miliar words,  ^' After  this  manner,  therefore,  pray  ye,  Our 
Father,  who  art  in  Heaven."  Read  on,  and  you  come  to  the 
words,  "Ask  .  .  .  seek  .  .  .  knock.  .  .  .  How  much  more  shall 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  give  good  things  to  them  that 
ask  him?  "  Ask,  seek,  knock  —  what  is  meant?  The  illustration 
tells.  "Or  what  man  is  there  of  you,  who,  if  his  son  shall  ask 
him  for  a  loaf,  will  give  him  a  stone,  or  if  he  shall  ask  for  a  fish, 
will  give  him  a  serpent?  "  There  is  a  man,  a  son,  a  presence,  a 
prayer.  The  Father  is  foimd;  then  the  son  can  ask.  So  you 
are  bidden  to  ask  for  Him  you  can  name;  to  seek  for  Him  you 
would  see;  to  knock  that  an  open  door  may  take  you  into  His 
presence.  Then  when  you  are  in  the  Presence,  make  your  wishes 
known.   To  what  will  the  answer  be  limited?   To  "  good  things." 

In  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  Luke  the  setting  is  different, 
but  there  is  the  same  asking,  seeking,  knocking.  There  is  the 
same  idea  with  the  friend  here  as  with  the  father  and  son,  but 
with  an  added  emphasis.  The  story  of  the  friend  who  at  the 
midnight  hour  would  not  rise  from  his  bed,  but  who  finally  did 
so,  ends  with  these  words,  "  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to 
give  good  gifts  .  .  .  how  much  more  shall  your  heavenly  Father 
give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him?" 

The  limitation  to  prayer  here  is  in  a  presence;  the  name  of  the 
one  thus  present  is  the  Holy  Spirit.  Whom  did  Jesus  ever  name 
as  He  prayed?  The  Father.  To  follow  His  example  is  the  way 
of  ways.  His  is  the  Presence  we  find  as  we  ask,  seek,  knock. 
When  Jesus,  friend,  counsellor,  teacher,  all  in  all  to  the  twelve, 
was  to  depart  from  them,  He  said  to  them,  "I  will  pray  [make 
request  of,  marginal  reading]  the  Father,  and  he  shall  give  you 
another  Comforter  that  he  may  be  with  you  for  ever."    The 

42 


Greek  word  is  paraclete,  adviser,  counsellor,  called  here  the 
''Spirit  of  truth,"  named  in  a  later  verse  the  "Comforter,  even 
the  Holy  Spirit."  "He  abideth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you." 
Read  John  16: 13,14,  for  a  further  account  of  his  mission. 

ThiSj  then,  is  our  Presence,  our  inward  abiding  Presence,  the 
Holy  Spirit,  to  whom  we  may  turn  as  did  the  disciples  to  Jesus, 
at  all  hours,  in  all  things.  This  is  our  common  heritage.  His 
is  an  indwelling  Presence,  his  an  inward  Voice.  Granted  the  fact 
and  power  of  Presence  between  God  and  the  soul,  the  further 
step  to  a  living  spoken  word,  an  assurance  or  direction,  while 
in  the  nature  of  the  case  it  cannot  be  explained,  should  not  be 
regarded  as  incredible.  It  is  the  secret  of  the  Lord  to  the  one 
to  whom  it  comes.  All  down  the  Christian  centuries  testimonies 
have  come  of  such  utterances,  listened  to  in  moments  of  stillness. 
Simple  devout  souls  feel  always  awe  and  mystery,  but  also 
satisfaction,  comfort,  and  certainty.  For  when  God  speaks  it 
is  His  part  to  make  us  hear,  as  it  is  our  part,  when  we  speak  to 
others,  to  make  sure  that  they  hear.  When  there  is  doubt  we 
do  well  to  wait,  for  no  Bible  story  of  God  speaking  to  man  left 
the  hearer  in  doubt  as  to  who  was  speaking. 

THE  VOICE  OF  THE  LORD:  Gen.  3:8,  9,  the  voice  of  Jehovah 

walking  in  the  garden;  I  Sam.  3: 10,  Speak;  for  thy  servant  hear- 
eth;  Ex.  19:19,  God  answered  him  by  a  voice;  33:13,  14,  that  I 
may  know  thee;  my  presence  shall  go  with  thee;  I  Kings  19: 12,  a 
still,  small  voice;  John  10: 14,  15, 1  know  mine  own;  Matt.  6:5,  9; 
7:7, 11,  after  this  manner  pray  ye  therefore,  .  .  .  ask,  seek,  knock; 
Luke  11:1-13,  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him;  John 
14:16,  17,  26;  16: 13,  14,  He  shall  give  you  another  Comforter  .  .  . 
even  the  Holy  Spirit. 


43 


THE  REPENTING  OF  GOD  AND 

MAN 

JEHOVAH  repents;  man  repents;  nations  are  called  to  re- 
pentance. Early  in  human  history  this  begins;  it  is  to 
last  until  the  whole  world  is  reached.  Till  things  are  right 
God  may  repent  Him  of  the  good  He  has  purposed  and  the  evil 
He  has  threatened.  What  is  the  common  ground  on  which  all 
meet  in  this  striking  word  reyent  f  Is  it  simply  a  change  of  mind, 
or  does  it  go  deeper?    Can  we  trace  its  Bible  meaning? 

The  word  occurs  first  in  the  story  of  Noah  when  "it  repenteth 
Jehovah  that  he  had  made  man  on  the  earth."  Was  that  all? 
No.  "It  grieved  him  at  his  heart."  And  what  followed?  Man 
perished  from  the  "face  of  the  ground,"  and  with  him  beasts, 
birds,  and  creeping  things,  for  of  them,  too,  it  was  said  that 
Jehovah  repented  that  He  had  made  them.  But  was  man  de- 
stroyed, were  there  no  beasts,  birds,  nor  creeping  things  left? 
Not  at  all.  For  Noah  "found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah." 
For  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  this  preacher  of  righteous- 
ness admonished  his  generation  while  he  built  the  ark.  The 
race  was  to  be  perpetuated  for  thousands  of  generations;  the 
earth  was  still  to  have  beasts,  creeping  things,  and  birds  of  the 
air.  But  the  kind  of  man  that  then  filled  the  earth  with  violence 
was  to  disappear.  Men  no  longer  lived  for  centuries  to  do  wick- 
edly. "Yet  shall  his  days  be  one  hundred  and  twenty  years," 
said  Jehovah.  There  were  to  be  no  more  Nephilim,  no  more 
giants  and  men  of  renown  such  as  there  had  been.  These  would 
be  but  a  memory.  Only  once  more  does  this  strange  word  ap- 
pear in  Bible  story.  In  the  Book  of  Numbers  the  spies  returned 
and  reported  to  the  people,  "There  we  saw  the  Nephilim,  the 
sons  of  Anak,  which  come  of  the  Nephilim :  and  we  were  in  our 
own  sight  as  grasshoppers,  ^nd  so  we  were  in  their  sight" 
(Gen.  6:4;  Num.  13:33).  As  we  follow  the  record  of  the  ages 
of  the  patriarchs,  this  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  prescribed 

44 


by  Jehovah  appears  in  striking  contrast  with  the  ages  recorded 
in  the  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis.  In  the  ninetieth  Psahn  we  have 
a  new  Hmit  for  men's  lives.  '^The  days  of  our  years  are  three- 
score years  and  ten,  or  if  by  reason  of  strength  they  be  fourscore 
years,  ...  it  is  soon  cut  off  and  we  fly  away."  It  needs  but 
the  most  general  knowledge  of  the  duration  of  human  life  in 
our  times  to  make  plain  that  the  average  of  man's  days  on  earth 
now  falls  far  short  of  this  second  Bible  limit. 

This,  then,  is  our  first  illustrative  look  at  repentance.  Jehovah 
repented;  there  followed  a  change  in  the  plans  of  Jehovah,  but 
not  in  His  creative  plans.  We  have  here  an  adaptation  to  the 
movements  of  free  beings  by  Him  who  made  them  free,  and  a 
change  of  vital  import  in  that  the  time  limit  for  man's  doing 
either  good  or  ill  is  so  fixed  as  to  alter  the  currents  of  all  human 
history. 

The  second  account  of  Jehovah's  repenting  carries  with  it  still 
other  lessons.  Moses  went  up  into  the  Mount.  His  long  ab- 
sence led  to  the  demand  of  Israel  for  a  God  to  worship,  and  the 
golden  calf  was  made.  Of  this  fact  Jehovah  tells  Moses,  and 
sends  him  down  the  mountain  to  the  camp.  In  the  course  of 
what  followed  we  have  Jehovah  saying  to  Moses,  *'Now  there- 
fore let  me  alone  .  .  .  that  I  may  consume  them:  and  I  will 
make  of  thee  a  great  nation."  Then  Moses  besought  Jehovah 
in  a  prayer  of  singular  force,  and  we  read  that  Jehovah  "re- 
pented  of  the  evil  which  he  said  he  would  do  unto  his  people." 
Here  was  no  change  in  the  purpose  of  Jehovah,  no  change  in  the 
promise  to  the  descendants  of  Abraham,  but  a  suggestion  of  a 
beginning  anew  \Ndth  Moses  to  carry  out  the  promise.  Jehovah 
not  only  changes,  but  changes  again  as  man  prays. 

The  case  of  Saul  is  another  striking  example  of  the  repenting 
of  Jehovah.  Saul  had  failed  to  do  as  he  had  been  instructed 
with  the  Amalekites,  sinners  whose  hour  had  come.  Samuel 
tells  Saul  plainly  that  Jehovah  hath  rent  the  kingdom  from 
him  and  hath  given  it  'Ho  a  neighbor  of  thine,  who  is  better 
than  thou."  This  statement  follows  after  the  word  of  Jehovah 
had  come  to  Samuel  saying,  "It  repenteth  me  that  I  have  set 

45 


up  Saul  to  be  king/'  and  Samuel  had  cried  unto  Jehovah  all 
the  night.  Then  follow  these  remarkable  words,  spoken  by 
Samuel  to  Saul,  ''The  Strength  of  Israel  will  not  lie  nor  repent: 
for  he  is  not  a  man  that  he  should  repent."  Then  Jehovah  re- 
pents, and  yet  does  not  repent. 

A  very  clear  instance  where  Jehovah  does  not  repent  is  the 
verse  in  the  Psalms,  later  quoted  in  Hebrews,  "Jehovah  hath 
sworn,  and  will  not  repent.  Thou  art  a  priest  for  ever  after  the 
order  of  Melchizedek."  Jehovah  repents  or  does  not  repent  for 
the  good  of  men.  He  changes  or  changes  not  for  their  welfare. 
The  call  of  the  Bible  upon  men  to  repent  is  likewise  ever  for  their 
good.  The  change  is  for  their  well-being  both  for  now  and  for 
the  hereafter.  Further  illustrations  that  are  equally  suggestive 
are  in  the  story  of  Balak  (Num.  22)  and  particularly  in  the  Book 
of  Jeremiah.  This  is  an  interesting  word  to  trace  throughout  its 
Bible  usage.  The  outstanding  fact  is  that  not  only  does  Jehovah 
change  Himself,  and  calls  on  men  to  change,  but  still  further, 
as  may  be  especially  noted  in  Jeremiah,  the  thought  associated 
with  the  first  repenting  of  Jehovah,  when  "it  grieved  him  at  his 
heart,"  is  always  associated  with  these  changes,  these  repentings, 
which  come  because  men  do  evil.  It  is  like  that  word  concern- 
ing Jesus  when  it  says  that  he  "  looked  round  about  on  them  with 
anger,  being  grieved  at  the  hardening  of  their  heart." 

John  the  Baptist  began  his  ministry  with  a  call  to  repentance. 
Jesus  did  the  same.  Peter  at  Pentecost  made  the  same  call, 
^^ Repent  and  be  baptized,"  and  Paul  tells  his  Greek  audience 
that  God  commands  all  men  everywhere  to  repent.  The  thing 
that  is  common  in  all  repentings  of  God  and  man  is  that  God 
and  man  can  change.  We  think  easily  of  man  as  needing  to 
change  his  ways,  but  not  so  readily  of  God  as  changing  His 
mind  and  His  ways  to  meet  changed  conditions,  as  He  deals 
with  men. 

REPENT:  Gen.  6:6,  7,  it  repented  Jehovah;  Exod.  32:12, 14,  Jehovah 
repented  of  the  evil;  I  Sam.  15:11,  29,  35,  it  repenteth  me  .  .  . 
will  not  lie  nor  repent;  Ps.  110:4,  will  not  repent;  Matt.  3:2, 
Mark  1: 15,  Matt.  4: 17,  Acts  2:38,  17:30,  repent 

46 


TEMPTATION 

DID  you  ever  note  that,  in  the  first  use  of  the  word  tempt  in 
the  Bible,  it  is  God  who  tempts f  "God  did  tempt  Abra- 
ham," we  read;  but  in  the  translation  of  that  same  verse  in 
the  American  Revision  we  get  our  key  to  the  root  meaning  of 
this  important  word,  "God  did  prove  Abraham."  Read  the 
story  with  this  in  mind;  then  turn  to  the  eleventh  chapter  of 
Hebrews  and  see  how  Abraham  met  this  tempting,  this  proving. 
"By  faith  Abraham,  when  he  was  tried,  offered  up  Isaac." 
Here  we  have  the  same  Greek  word.  Though  all  things  looked 
to  be  against  the  fulfilment  of  God's  promise  to  the  patriarch, 
his  faith  held  steadily  to  the  word  of  promise  that  Isaac  should 
be  his  heir. 

We  are  told  that  Israel  tempted  Jehovah  ten  times  while 
journeying  in  the  wilderness.  "Your  fathers  tempted  me, 
proved  me,  and  saw  my  work,"  says  the  Psalmist.  They  mur- 
mured, they  went  astray,  they  doubted  in  hours  of  emergency 
whether  the  promise  to  carry  them  through  would  be  fulfilled, 
because  they  did  not  see  how  it  could  be.  And  despite  their 
hardness  of  heart  the  manna  fell  from  heaven,  the  waters  gushed 
out  of  the  rock  as  if  it  were  a  spring,  the  air  was  darkened  with 
flocks  of  quails  sent  to  be  their  meat.  Jehovah  never  failed  to 
keep  His  promise. 

Other  passages  carry  out  the  same  thought.  "  Did  ever  people 
hear  the  voice  of  God  speaking  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire,  as 
thou  hast  heard,  and  live?"  asks  Moses  in  the  Book  of  Deuter- 
onomy. "Hath  God  assayed  to  go  and  take  to  him  a  nation 
from  the  midst  of  another  nation,  by  temptations  [marginal 
reading,  trials,  or  evidences],  by  signs,  and  by  wonders,  .  .  . 
according  to  all  that  Jehovah  God  did  for  you  in  Egypt  before 
your  eyes?  Unto  thee  it  was  shewed,  that  thou  mightest  know 
that  Jehovah  he  is  God." 

"Ask  thee  a  sign  of  Jehovah  thy  God,"  said  Jehovah  unto 

47 


Ahaz,  as  it  is  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Isaiah;  "ask  it  either  in 
the  depth  or  in  the  height  above."  But  Ahaz  said,  "I  will  not 
ask,  neither  will  I  teni'pt  Jehovah." 

"What  is  man,"  said  Job,  "that  thou  shouldest  magnify  him, 
and  that  thou  shouldest  set  thine  heart  upon  him,  that  thou 
shouldest  visit  him  every  morning,  and  try  him  every  moment?  " 

"In  the  business  of  the  ambassadors  of  the  princes  of  Baby- 
lon," we  read,  "God  left  him  (Hezekiah),  to  try  him,  that  he 
might  know  all  that  was  in  his  heart." 

"I  will  rain  bread  from  heaven  for  you,"  said  Jehovah  to 
Moses,  "and  the  people  shall  go  out  and  gather  a  day's  portion 
every  day,  that  I  may  prove  them,  whether  they  will  walk  in 
my  way  or  no."  "That  he  might  humble  thee,  and  that  he 
might  prove  thee,  to  do  thee  good  at  thy  latter  end."  Again 
and  again  the  same  two  Hebrew  words  appear,  translated  thus 
in  their  various  settings. 

Turn  to  the  New  Testament.  The  same  meaning  holds  in 
the  Greek  word  as  in  the  Hebrew.  "Ye  are  they  which  have 
continued  with  me  in  my  temptations,^^  says  Jesus  to  the  twelve; 
"ye  shall  sit  on  thrones  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  I 
app>oint  unto  you  a  kingdom,  even  as  my  Father  appointed 
imto  me."  They  came,  as  He  had  come,  to  the  kingdom  ap^ 
pointed  by  way  of  being  tempted  and  holding  fast  through  the 
proving. 

In  the  Epistle  of  St.  James  we  learn  how  this  tempting  comes 
about,  how  man  becomes  his  own  tempter,  how  temptation  is 
related  to  evil,  and  what  is  the  method  of  God's  proving.  "Let 
no  man  say  when  he  is  tempted,  I  am  tempted  of  God:  for  God 
cannot  be  tempted  with  evil,  and  he  himself  tempteth  no  man." 
God's  method  of  trying,  testing,  proving  we  have  seen  worked 
out  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  He  gives  a  pledge,  makes 
a  promise,  enters  into  a  covenant.  Then  He  waits  to  see  if 
those  to  whom  these  pledges  are  given  will  hold  fast  under  all 
circumstances.  He  tempts  no  man  with  evil;  His  purpose  and 
plan  is  to  "overcome  evil  with  good."  What  is  man's  relation 
to  being  tempted  as  he  goes  his  way  day  by  day?    The  passage 


gives  the  answer,  *'But  each  man  is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn 
away  by  his  own  lust  (desire),  and  enticed."  Well  may  we  pray, 
"Lead  us  not  into  temptation,^ ^  but  by  a  simpler  way,  if  it  may 
be;  but  if  we  must  be  tempted,  proved,  "deliver  us  from  evil." 
Nevertheless,  "Count  it  all  joy  when  ye  fall  into  manifold 
temptations;  knowing  that  the  proof  of  your  faith  worketh 
patience,"  and  that  "blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth  tempta- 
tion :  for  when  he  hath  been  tried  [approved,  American  Revision], 
he  shall  receive  the  crown  of  life  which  the  Lord  hath  promised 
to  them  that  love  him." 

Take  this  simple  thought  and  apply  it  to  the  many  other 
verses  which  will  occur  to  you.  Study  in  your  concordance  this 
and  the  similar  words  trial  and  tribulation.  The  study  is  one  of 
rare  interest. 

TEMPTATION:  Gen.  22:1,  God  did  tempt  Abraham;  Num.  14:22, 
have  tempted  me  now  these  ten  times;  Psa.  95:9,  your  fathers 
tempted  me,  proved  me;  Deut.  4:34,  by  temptations,  by  signs,  and 
by  wonders;  Isa.  7: 12,  neither  will  I  tempt  Jehovah;  Job  7: 18,  try 
him  every  moment;  II  Chron.  32:31,  to  try  him;  Ex.  16:4,  that  I 
may  prove  them;  Deut.  8: 16,  prove  thee,  to  do  thee  good;  Luke 
22:28,  continued  with  me  in  my  temptations;  Jas.  1:13,  14,  Let 
no  man  say  when  he  is  tempted;  Matt.  6: 13,  lead  us  not  into  temp- 
tation; Jas.  1:2,  12,  fall  into  manifold  temptations,  the  man  that 
endureth  temptations. 


MIRACLE 

OUR  English  word  miracle  is  a  New  Testament  word.  It 
appears  only  five  times  in  the  Authorized  Version  of  the 
Old  Testament  and  not  at  all  in  the  American  Revision,  where 
it  is  replaced  by  the  more  familiar  translations  of  the  original 
Hebrew  words  signs,  wonders,  wondrous  works,  etc.,  words 
which  appear  hundreds  of  times  in  the  Old  Testament.  The 
same  distinction  carries  over  to  the  New  Testament.  The  word 
appears  in  the  Gospels  a  score  or  so  of  times,  mostly  in  the 

49 


Fourth  Gospel,  in  the  Acts  and  the  Epistles  a  few  times,  with 
the  marginal  reading  of  the  American  Revision  giving  a  correct 
translation  of  the  Greek  words,  generally  as  sign,  sometimes  as 
power  and  wonder.  Any  one  who  reads  the  Bible  is  therefore  in 
possession  of  all  that  needs  to  be  said  as  to  the  specific  acts 
termed  in  the  text  miracles.  He  has  only  to  remember  that 
the  Greek  words  so  translated  are  the  words  for  either  sign  or, 
less  frequently,  power  (used  only  once  with  this  translation  in 
the  Gospels,  Mark  9:39),  and  that  while  this  Greek  word  for 
sign  is  translated  miracle  fourteen  times  in  the  Gospels,  it  is 
translated  by  its  more  literal  meaning,  sign,  thirty-one  times. 

To  know  this  and  so  to  interpret  our  marginal  readings  as  we 
read  our  Bibles  is  to  have  the  miracles  of  the  Gospels  fall  into 
their  proper  setting  in  a  long  line  of  Biblical  records  of  wonders. 
The  history  of  the  deliverance  of  Israel  from  Egypt  is  a  story  of 
signs,  wonders,  manifestations  of  power.  The  manna  in  the  wil- 
derness, the  flowing  of  waters  from  the  rock,  the  crossing  of  the 
swollen  waters  of  Jordan  are  but  illustrations  of  what  repeats 
itself  again  and  again  in  the  history  of  Israel.  But  the  magicians 
likewise  did  wonders  before  Pharaoh,  and  there  have  been  ma- 
gicians, soothsayers,  astrologists,  exorcists,  and  others  with 
various  names  and  of  varied  types  all  along  the  path  of  history. 
The  Revelation  places  before  us  signs,  wonders,  and  powers 
that  appall  us.  Jesus  Himself  said  to  the  disciples,  "For  there 
shall  arise  false  Christs,  and  false  prophets,  and  shall  shew  great 
signs  and  wonders;  so  as  to  lead  astray,  if  possible,  even  the 
elect."  Of  the  generation  in  whose  midst  He  taught  He  said, 
*'An  evil  and  adulterous  generation  seeketh  after  a  sign;  and 
there  shall  no  sign  be  given  to  it  but  the  sign  of  Jonah  the 
prophet."  But  why  add  to  the  list?  The  time  of  wonders  has 
never  ceased. 

The  reason  for  noting  them  in  this  connection  is  not  to  dwell 
on  them  as  a  whole,  but  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  all  the 
acts  of  Jesus  which  are  named  as  miracles  call  us  back  to  God. 
They  are  works  of  beneficence  and  are  performed  without  money 
and  without  price.    The  apostolic  thought  in  regard  to  this  is 

50 


set  forth  in  the  story  of  Simon  the  sorcerer,  to  whom  the  people 
of  Samaria  all  "gave  heed,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest,  saying, 
This  man  is  that  power  of  God  which  is  called  Great."  When 
he  offered  the  apostles  money  for  the  power  he  saw  was  theirs, 
they  answered,  *'Thy  silver  perish  with  thee,  because  thou  hast 
thought  to  obtain  the  gift  of  God  with  money."  The  apostles 
were  men  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit;  great  signs  and  wonders 
were  wrought  at  their  hands.  St.  Paul  names  among  the  gifts  of 
the  Spirit  to  the  church  of  God  the  gifts  of  healings  and  the  work- 
ings of  miracles  [powers].  These  and  other  gifts  have  never  been 
withdrawn.  "There  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit. 
And  there  are  diversities  of  ministrations;  and  the  same  Lord. 
And  there  are  diversities  of  workings,  but  the  same  God,  who 
worketh  all  things  in  all.  But  to  each  one  is  given  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Spirit  to  profit  withal."  Following  the  enumerations 
of  gifts  is  the  description  of  the  body,  with  each  of  its  members 
working  for  the  whole,  illustrating  the  meaning  of  ''profit  withal " 
in  that  no  gift  is  for  individual  use,  but  all  gifts  are  for  the  good 
of  all. 

We  are  invited  to  believe  in  many  cults  and  in  many  persons 
as  givers  of  light.  The  Bible  teaching  is  that  we  prove  all 
things  and  hold  fast  to  that  which  is  good.  There  are  now,  as 
there  were  in  the  times  of  the  apostles,  "many  antichrists." 
The  mark  by  which  we  are  to  know  them  is  their  denial  that 
Jesus  is  the  Christ,  their  denial  of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  The 
spirits  are  all  to  pass  this  test.  "Every  spirit  which  confesseth 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  is  of  God;  and  every  spirit 
which  confesseth  not  Jesus  is  not  of  God:  and  this  is  the  spirit 
of  the  antichrist,  whereof  ye  have  heard  that  it  cometh;  and 
now  it  is  in  the  world  already."  (See  also  study  on  Body,  Soul, 
and  Spirit,  page  74.) 

MIRACLE:   Matt.  24:24,  great  signs  and  wonders;    12:39,  seeketh 
after  a  sign;  Acts  8:9-20, 1  Cor.  12:4-11, 1  John  2: 18,  19;  4: 1-6. 


51 


THE  TREE  OF  THE  KNOWLEDGE 
OF  GOOD  AND  EVIL 

THE  TREE  OF  LIFE 

THE  tragic  consequences  that  have  followed  the  disobedi- 
ence of  man  in  Eden  have  strewn  his  path  with  wreckage 
for  thousands  of  years.  In  twenty-three  verses  of  the  story  as 
related  to  us  in  the  third  chapter  of  Genesis  we  have  depicted 
before  us,  first,  the  struggle  between  the  woman  and  the  serpent 
and  between  the  woman's  seed  and  the  seed  of  the  serpent; 
second,  the  history  of  woman  through  the  long  centuries  modi- 
fied in  some  degree  where  the  Gospel  has  reached  her;  and  third, 
man's  hfelong  toil  and  labor  after  he  was  sent  out  from  the  well- 
watered  garden,  which  he  was  to  tend,  into  that  world  in  which 
we  live.  This  is  all  in  epitome,  but  in  its  condensed  form  it 
tells  what  has  been  true  for  many,  many  generations.  The 
Tree  of  Life  does  not  appear  again  in  the  Bible  until  the  Reve- 
lation, save  as  it  was  a  memory  and  a  tradition  with  the  He- 
brews, and  appears  as  "a  tree  of  life"  in  four  proverbs. 

Turning  now  to  the  Tree  of  the  Knowledge  of  Good  and 
Evil,  we  see  the  woman  and  the  serpent,  known  in  the  Bible 
as  the  Devil  and  Satan,  at  the  tree.  Its  fruit  was  not  to  be 
touched  or  eaten.  Jehovah's  one  word  concerning  what  would 
follow  if  it  were  eaten  was  that  it  would  bring  death  where  now 
there  was  life.  The  woman  was  deceived  and  touched  and  ate. 
The  fruit  was,  as  she  saw  it,  good  for  food,  a  delight  to  look 
upon,  and  would  make  one  wise.  The  serpent  had  said,  **Ye 
shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil."  No  other  knowledge 
is  named,  only  that  of  good  and  evil.  The  man  was  not  deceived, 
but  took  from  the  woman  and  ate  also.  What  do  we  learn  from 
this  story?  That  the  man  and  the  woman  singly  and  together 
decided  to  settle  for  themselves,  as  they  chose,  what  was  good 
and  what  was  evil.    Their  descendants  have  chosen  to  do  the 

52 


same  until  this  day.  With  what  result?  In  the  main  they  have 
missed  the  good,  have  not  discerned,  or  seeing  have  not  followed 
in,  the  ways  of  God.  In  religion,  in  government,  in  all  the  com- 
mon walks  of  life  they  have  come  far  short  of  the  thought  of 
God  when  He  said,  ''Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our 
likeness."  A  confusion  has  arisen  as  to  what  was  good  and  what 
was  evil.  All  can  see  this  in  the  way  in  which  men  have  stood 
for  slavery,  for  the  sale  of  liquor,  the  traffic  in  souls  that  goes 
on  regardless  of  right  or  ^vrong  in  men's  lives.  We  talk  of  neces- 
sary evils,  of  evils  that  cannot  be  suppressed.  Governments  are 
allied  to  them,  draw  from  them  great  sums  for  revenue,  utterly 
ignoring  or  condoning  the  imutterable  misery  bred  by  them. 
It  is  an  old,  old  story,  repeated  with  every  generation  and  in 
most  men's  fives.  They  call  good  evil  and  evil  good,  lacking 
the  clear  vision  that  belongs  to  man  only  when  he  goes  out  into 
the  world  or  looks  in  upon  himself  with  God,  seeing  with  Him 
and  naming  as  He  names.  ''Woe  unto  them,"  says  Isaiah 
(5:20),  "that  caU  evil  good  and  good  evil;  that  put  darkness 
for  light,  and  light  for  darkness;  that  put  bitter  for  sweet,  and 
sweet  for  bitter.  .  .  .  Therefore  as  the  tongue  of  fire  devoureth 
the  stubble,  and  as  the  dry  grass  sinketh  down  in  the  flame,  so 
their  root  shall  be  as  rottenness,  and  their  blossom  shall  go  up 
as  dust." 

The  Tree  of  Life  reappears  in  the  Revelation  (2:7;  22:2,  14). 
To  the  overcomer,  the  one  who  obeys  the  word  given  him  by 
Jesus  Christ,  it  shall  be  given  "to  eat  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  which 
is  in  the  Paradise  [garden]  of  God."  Once  more  we  hear  of 
this  Tree  of  Life,  on  either  side  of  the  river  of  the  water  of  life, 
where  it  yields  its  fruit,  the  leaves  being  for  the  healing  of  the 
nations.  Man  ate  as  he  would,  in  disobedience.  Nations  as 
well  as  individuals  chose  to  name  for  themselves  what  was 
good  and  what  was  evil.  The  shores  of  time  have  been  literally 
covered  with  the  desolations  that  have  followed,  and  the  end 
is  not  yet.  There  is  but  one  way  for  men  and  nations  afike  to 
change  this.  It  is  to  get  back,  by  obeying  God,  to  the  Tree  of 
Life. 

53 


THE  OLD  SERPENT  CALLED  THE 
DEVIL  AND  SATAN 

THE  first  appearance  of  this  personage  is  in  Eden,  the  last 
in  the  Revelation.  Through  the  whole  of  human  history, 
as  we  know  it  from  the  Scriptures  and  in  our  personal  experience 
and  observation,  Satan  plays  a  part.  The  testimony  of  Jesus 
concerning  Satan  is  so  specific  that  thoughtful  Bible  readers 
cannot  dismiss  this  subject  without  serious  consideration.  Jesus, 
releasing  the  woman  from  her  infirmity,  said  that  Satan  had 
bound  her  with  it  these  eighteen  years  (Luke  13 :  16).  He  spoke 
of  Himself  as  beholding  ''Satan  fallen  as  lightning  from  heaven" 
(Luke  10:18).  He  was  led  into  the  wilderness  by  the  Spirit  to 
be  tempted  [tested]  forty  days  of  the  devil.  When  His  casting 
out  of  demons  was  attributed  to  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  the 
demons.  He  said,  "If  Satan  also  is  divided  against  himself,  how 
shall  his  kingdom  stand?  .  .  .  But  if  I  by  the  finger  of  God 
cast  out  demons,  then  is  the  kingdom  of  God  come  upon  you" 
(Luke  11 :  15-20).  It  is  recorded  that  Satan  entered  into  Judas 
Iscariot  and  sent  him  on  his  mission  of  betrayal.  Jesus  tells 
Peter  that  Satan  asked  to  have  him  that  he  might  sift  him  as 
wheat,  but  that  He  had  prayed  that  his  faith  fail  not  (Luke  22 : 3, 
31).  Our  Lord  told  His  disciples  that  the  prince  of  this  world 
was  to  come,  who  had  nothing  in  him,  and  spoke  of  the  devil  as 
a  liar  and  a  murderer  from  the  beginning  (John  14:31;  8:44). 
The  apostles  were  not  one  whit  behind  Jesus  in  their  testimony 
concerning  Satan.  St.  Paul  writes  of  the  messenger  of  Satan 
sent  to  buffet  him  lest  he  be  exalted  above  measure  (II  Cor. 
12:7).  Writing  to  Timothy  of  those  who  were  making  ship- 
wreck of  their  faith,  he  mentions  the  names  of  two  persons,  whom, 
he  said,  *'I  delivered  unto  Satan  that  they  might  be  taught  not 
to  blaspheme"  (I  Tim.  1:20).  To  the  church  in  Corinth  who 
were  in  trouble  over  certain  persons  he  wrote  that  they  should 
gather  together  and  with  the  power  of  the  Lord  Jesus  deliver 

54 


them  "unto  Satan  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that  the 
spirit  may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus''  (I  Cor.  5:5). 

The  mark  upon  Satan  in  the  Old  Testament  is  that  he  judged 
men  and  things  from  the  standpoint  of  the  seen  and  outward. 
It  was  so  in  the  case  of  Job.  Take  from  Job  his  temporal  bless- 
ings, and  he  will  curse  God,  was  Satan's  look  at  him.  It  was 
so  with  David  when  he  was  tempted  of  Satan.  In  his  self-will 
he  numbered  Israel,  as  if  the  victories  given  him  by  Jehovah  had 
been  won  by  numbers.  Jesus  said  to  Peter,  "Get  thee  behind 
me,  Satan  ...  for  thou  mindest  not  the  things  of  God,  but 
the  things  of  men"  (Matt.  16:23).  The  judgment  of  men  was 
liable  to  be  like  Satan's,  an  outward  look,  not  the  inward  vision 
of  God. 

Considering  the  different  names  as  they  appear,  we  come, 
then,  to  associate  the  name  Satan  with  this  outward  look.  The 
name  the  Devil  must  ever  be  associated  with  the  word  of  Jesus 
(John  8:44),  "He  was  a  murderer  from  the  beginning,  and 
stood  not  in  the  truth,  because  there  is  no  truth  in  him."  Here 
Jesus  gives  us  the  key  to  the  characteristics  of  this  spirit  of  evil. 
There  was  no  inward  life  that  was  true,  true  to  God,  true  to 
men,  true  as  a  teacher  and  interpreter  of  the  words  spoken  by 
God.  We  see  this  in  the  first  appearance  in  the  garden  when 
he  said,  in  contradiction  of  God's  word,  that  the  man  and  the 
woman  should  not  surely  die.  His  followers  are  like  him.  Men 
are  children  of  their  father  the  Devil,  says  Jesus,  because  the 
lusts  [desires]  of  their  father  it  is  their  will  to  do.  How  differ- 
ent the  word  of  Peter  describing  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  anointed 
by  God  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  power,  "who  went  about 
doing  good,  and  healing  all  that  were  oppressed  of  the  devil" 
(Acts  10:38). 


65 


UNQUENCHABLE  FIRE- 
EVERLASTING  BURNINGS 

ETERNITY,  everlasting  burnings,  unquenchable  fire  —  these 
three  phrases  are  grouped  in  our  common  speech  in  a  way 
that  makes  an  exact  study  of  phraseology  and  context  neces- 
sary for  us  to  penetrate  below  our  surface  impressions  to  the  real 
meaning  and  intention  of  the  Bible  teaching  concerning  them. 
Eternity  can  hardly  be  made  a  separate  word  study,  for  it  is 
found  but  once  in  the  Bible.  In  connection  with  the  study  of 
the  words  eternal  and  everlasting  it  is  worth  while  to  note  that 
in  the  use  of  the  word  eternity,  in  its  one  appearance  in  the 
Book  of  Isaiah,  the  Hebrew  word  is  not  that  for  age,  but  for  du- 
ration and  continuity,  and  that  it  is  used  in  adjective  form  in 
the  same  book  in  the  phrase  ''the  Everlasting  Father,  the  Prince 
of  Peace."  A  similar  Greek  word  is  used  in  the  New  Testament 
in  the  reference  to  His  eternal  power  and  Godhead,  revealed  to 
all  men  by  the  things  seen.  ''For  thus  saith  the  high  and  lofty 
One  that  inhabiteth  eternity^'  we  read  in  the  fifty-seventh  chap- 
ter of  the  Book  of  Isaiah.  Here  and  here  only  do  we  have  the 
word  eternity.  "I  dwell,"  the  passage  continues,  "in  the  high 
and  lofty  place,  with  him  also  that  is  of  a  humble  and  contrite 
spirit,  to  revive  the  spirit  of  the  humble,  and  to  revive  the 
heart  of  the  contrite  ones."  The  fact  that  we  so  often  use  or 
hear  used  the  word  eternity  as  though  we  were  resting  on  the  sure 
word  of  revelation  as  to  that  which  we  speak  of  as  without  be- 
ginning and  without  end  makes  us  feel  that  we  would  do  well 
to  call  a  halt  and  see  just  what  is  said  in  the  Scriptures.  The 
context  in  this  case  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  any  relation 
to  our  common  use  of  the  word,  as  when  we  speak  of  men  at 
death  as  "going  into  eternity." 

In  the  Old  Testament  we  find  in  the  Book  of  Isaiah  a  passage 
which  relates  to  the  thought  imbedded  in  the  phrase  unquench- 

56 


able  fire.  "The  sinners  in  Zion  are  afraid;  trembling  hath  sur- 
prised the  godless  ones.  Who  among  us  shall  dwell  with  the 
devouring  fire  ?  who  among  us  shall  dwell  with  everlasting  burn- 
ings f  He  that  walketh  righteously,  and  speaketh  uprightly; 
...  he  shall  dwell  on  high:  his  place  of  defence  shall  be  the 
munitions  of  rocks:  his  bread  shall  be  given  him;  his  waters 
shall  be  sure.  Thine  eyes  shall  see  the  king  in  his  beauty  .  .  . 
But  there  Jehovah  will  be  with  us  in  majesty."  This  makes  the 
righteous  man  one  who  can  dwell  in  everlasting  burnings,  even 
as  in  the  passage  just  quoted,  where  eternity  had  been  named 
as  the  home  of  the  contrite  and  humble,  and  also  the  dwelling 
place  of  the  high  and  lofty  One  who  inhabiteth  it.  This,  then, 
is  the  first  point  in  our  study,  the  contribution  of  the  two  Old 
Testament  passages  in  which  these  two  phrases  occur.  We 
pause  also  to  note  that  the  word  everlasting  in  this  passage  is  the 
word  age-long  discussed  in  a  former  study. 

In  the  New  Testament  the  phrase  unquenchable  fire  is  found 
side  by  side  with  the  word  fire  and  the  name  Holy  Ghost.  John 
the  Baptist  utters  them.  ''I  indeed,"  he  says,  ''baptize  you 
with  water  ...  he  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
with  fire."  Then,  telling  what  will  be  the  manner  of  this  bap- 
tism, he  adds,  "whose  fan  is  in  his  hand,  and  he  will  thoroughly 
cleanse  his  threshing-floor;  and  he  will  gather  his  wheat  into 
the  garner,  but  the  chaff  he  will  burn  up  with  unquenchable 
fire.'^  The  same  fire  that  is  joined  to  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  first 
part  of  the  sentence  is  linked  to  the  word  unquenchable  at  its 
conclusion.  We  are  reminded  of  what  Jesus  said  of  Himself, 
"I  came  to  cast  fire  upon  the  earth;  and  what  will  I  if  it  is 
already  kindled?"  Then  follows  a  setting  forth  of  the  lines  of 
division,  of  cleavage,  which  (rather  than  peace)  will  come  to  the 
earth  with  His  coming,  five  in  one  house  divided,  three  against 
two,  two  against  three.  This  dividing  line  is  found  more  than 
once  in  the  Gospels.  The  listeners  to  John  the  Baptist  would 
scarcely  have  understood  the  words  Holy  Ghost,  Holy  Spirit,  if 
they  had  stood  alone,  for  this  name  is  rare  in  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures.    Joined  to  fire  it  was  at  once  intelligible,  for  their 

57 


Scriptures  had  made  familiar  Jehovah's  manifesting  Himself 
under  the  appearance  of  fire.  Even  so  the  coming  and  the  bap- 
tizing of  this  coming  One  would  be  by  fire;  even  so  the  chaff 
should  be  burned  with  unquenchable  fire. 

Turn  to  the  passage  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  Mark's  Gospel 
that  speaks  of  the  unquenchable  fire.  "It  is  good  for  thee  to 
enter  into  life  maimed,  rather  than  having  thy  two  hands,  to 
go  into  hell  [Gehenna],  into  the  unquenchable  fire" ;  and  again, 
"where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched." 
All  these  references  are,  as  Jesus  teaches,  to  the  Gehenna  fire, 
the  fire  of  the  valley  of  Hinnom.  It  is  the  presence  of  God  and 
cannot  be  turned  away  or  gainsaid.  It  has  to  do  with  the  things 
which  Jesus  has  named  which  must  be  cut  off.  It  calls  upon 
the  man  who  says,  "Thou  fool,"  to  halt  and  change.  It  looks 
upon  the  man  whose  desire  violates  the  commandment  and 
warns  him  as  to  body  and  soul  alike  and  tells  him  what  is  profit- 
able. Attend  to  this  or  the  fire  that  consumes  will  come  straight 
from  Him  who  cannot  be  avoided.  (See  also  study  on  Gehenna, 
page  60).  There  was  wheat  in  the  disciples;  there  was  chaff. 
The  chaff  must  go.  The  two  had  grown  together,  the  tiny  leaves 
folded  about  the  soft  and  growing  grain;  but  as  with  the  grain,  so 
with  these  men.  God's  hour  had  come  for  a  change.  It  was  so 
with  Israel.  It  was  so  with  the  world.  The  lines  of  division 
were  to  run  everywhere  under  the  coming  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as 
the  fire.  In  accordance  with  the  thought  of  fire  we  read  that, 
when  the  disciples  were  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  at  Pen- 
tecost, "there  appeared  unto  them  tongues  parting  asunder, 
like  as  of  fire;  and  it  sat  upon  each  of  them." 

As  we  study  the  passage  where  we  are  bidden  to  cut  off  and 
pluck  out  whatever  in  us  causes  stumbling,  we  notice  that  the 
word  life  in  the  phrase,  "it  is  good  for  thee  (the  disciples,  in  this 
case)  to  enter  into  life  maimed,"  etc.,  is  zoe,the  Greek  word  which 
stands  for  life  in  general,  our  Ufe  as  we  live  it  here  and  now. 
We  do  not  think  of  the  heavenly  life  as  associated  with  the  word 
maimed.  As  we  face  the  other  plain  facts,  that  men  reap  here 
and  now  in  bodily  wreckage  as  well  as  soul  loss  what  they  sow, 

58 


we  can  see  some  ground  for  the  thought  that  these  fires  are 
burning  now  in  the  movings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  in  the  just 
judgments  of  God. 

Following  the  threefold  repetition  of  the  unquenchable  fire  as 
set  forth  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  Mark,  as  quoted 
in  part  above,  comes  the  last  word  of  Jesus  concerning  this 
fire.  We  have  seen  the  disciples  rebuked  and  warned  that  it 
were  better  that  a  great  millstone  were  hung  about  the  neck 
of  the  offender,  and  he  were  cast  into  the  sea,  than  that  he  should 
cause  one  of  these  little  ones  to  stumble.  The  picture  changes. 
God  as  a  consuming,  an  unquenchable  fire  is  seen.  "Cast  into 
Gehenna"  replaces  "cast  into  the  sea."  Then  come  the  con- 
cluding words  of  Jesus,  "For  every  one  shall  be  salted  with 
^re."  Because  of  sin  none  were  able  to  pass  before  the  Jehovah 
of  the  Old  Covenant,  the  God  who  appears  as  fire,  and  be  saved. 
None  can  pass  now  in  these  newer  times.  '^For  every  one  shall 
be  salted  with  fire."  "  For  "  is  a  word  of  conclusion,  a  word  that 
introduces  a  summing  up  in  a  single  sentence  of  all  that  has  been 
said.  To  add  to  the  significance  of  this  single  sentence  would 
seem  impossible.  But  He  who  spake  as  never  man  spake  carries 
the  thought  a  step  further.  "Salt  is  good:  but  if  the  salt  has 
lost  its  saltness,  wherewith  will  ye  season  it?  Have  salt  in 
yourselves,  and  be  at  peace  one  with  another." 

UNQUENCHABLE  FIRE:  Isa.  57:15,  the  high  and  lofty  One,  that 
inhabiteth  eternity;  9:6,  Everlasting  Father;  Rom.  1:20,  eternal 
power;  Isa.  33: 14,  dwell  with  devouring  fire  . . .  everlasting  burn- 
ings; Matt.  3:11,  12,  Luke  3:16,  17,  burn  up  with  unquenchable 
fire;  Luke  12:49,  to  cast  fire  upon  the  earth;  Mark  9:43-50, 
imquenchable  fire,  fire  is  not  quenched,  salted  with  fire;  Matt.  5: 22, 
Thou  fool,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  hell  of  fire;  Acts  2:3,  tongues, 
like  as  of  fire. 


59 


GEHENNA  OR  HELL 

THE  Greek  word  Gehenna  divides  itself  into  two  parts,  GCj 
meaning  valley,  and  Hinnom^  a  proper  name,  the  word 
being  the  Greek  rendering  of  the  place  cited  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, in  descriptions  of  the  borders  of  Judah,  as  the  valley  of 
Hinnom,  or  the  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom.  Gehenna  was 
the  name  of  a  deep  gorge  or  ravine  south  of  Jerusalem  where 
the  offal  of  the  city  was  burned.  More  than  once  in  the  Old 
Testament  days  it  was  used  in  the  worship  of  Baal  for  human 
sacrifice.  Ahaz  burnt  incense  in  the  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom 
and  "burnt  his  children  there,  according  to  the  abominations 
of  the  heathen.'*  Manasseh  made  his  children  to  pass  through 
fire  in  the  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom.  In  the  Book  of  Jeremiah 
we  read  that  Jerusalem  has  done  evil,  that  they  have  "built  the 
high  places  of  Topheth,  which  is  in  the  valley  of  the  son  of 
Hinnom,  to  burn  their  sons  and  their  daughters  in  the  fire; 
which  I  commanded  not,  neither  came  it  into  my  mind.  There- 
fore the  days  come,  saith  Jehovah,  that  this  place  shall  no  more 
be  called  Topheth,  nor  the  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom,  but  the 
valley  of  Slaughter."  This  is  the  Gehenna  or  hell  that  the 
disciples  who  heard  Jesus  use  the  word  would  see,  a  place  where 
the  offal  of  the  city,  which  must  have  been  enormous  at  the  times 
of  the  great  festivals,  was  burned.  Burning  was  the  only  way 
of  ridding  the  city  of  its  waste  and  of  the  dangers  connected 
therewith,  for  Jerusalem  was  without  the  possibility  of  such  sani- 
tary systems  as  are  known  to  us.  The  great  waterworks  of  Sol- 
omon and  Hezekiah  were  cisterns,  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock, 
on  which  Jerusalem  rested,  which,  except  for  tunnels  which 
brought  into  the  city  waters  from  nearby  springs,  were  the  whole 
dependence  of  the  city  from  a  sanitary  standpoint.  To  leave  the 
offal  undestroyed,  scattered  over  the  city,  would  be  to  breed 
disease  and  invite  pestilence.  All  this  was  known  to  the 
dweller  in  Jerusalem,  as  our  local  names  and  customs  are 

60 


known  to  us,  and  would  offer  a  ready  interpretation  to  the 
teaching  of  Jesus. 

The  word  Gehenna^  translated  in  our  Bibles  hell,  but  always 
cited  in  the  marginal  reading  of  the  American  Revision  as 
Gehenna,  is  used  eleven  times  in  the  New  Testament.  It  should 
not  be  confused  with  the  two  other  words  translated  in  the 
Authorized  Version  hell,  the  Sheol  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
and  the  Hades  of  the  New  Testament,  discussed  on  page  64. 
It  is  used  only  once  outside  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  in  a  minor 
reference  in  the  passage  in  the  third  chapter  of  James  concern- 
ing the  tongue,  ''which  setteth  on  fire  the  wheel  of  nature,  and 
is  set  on  fire  by  hell  (Gehenna).''  The  Bible  teaching,  then,  con- 
cerning Gehenna  is  from  the  lips  of  our  Lord  alone,  and  is  found 
in  the  Gospels  of  Matthew  and  Mark,  with  a  single  parallel 
reference  in  Luke. 

In  the  fifth  chapter  of  Matthew  we  find  the  complete  setting 
for  it  and  the  first  use  of  this  word.  Anger  has  kindled  one  to 
say  to  his  brother,  ''Thou  fool,"  and  he  is  therefore  said  to  be 
"  in  danger  of  the  Gehenna  of  fire."  "  Thou  fool "  is  an  expression 
which  calls  into  question  the  piety,  the  religion  of  the  person 
addressed.  It  is  the  illustration  by  Jesus  of  what  He  would  say 
of  the  commandment,  given  in  the  olden  time,  "Thou  shalt  not 
kill,"  the  penalty  of  which  was  death.  He  next  interprets  the 
seventh  commandment,  saying,  concerning  this  word  given  to 
Moses,  that  desire,  "looking  on  a  woman  to  lust  after  her,"  is 
adultery.  Then  follow  these  words,  "and  if  thy  right  eye  caus- 
eth  thee  to  stumble,  pluck  it  out,  and  cast  it  from  thee:  for  it 
is  profitable  for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members  should  perish, 
and  not  thy  whole  body  be  cast  into  Gehenna."  The  teaching 
concerning  divorce  follows.  The  Greek  word  translated  here 
"perish"  is,  it  should  be  noted,  a  form  of  the  word  apollumi, 
lose. 

The  next  place  where  the  word  Gehenna  is  found  is  in  the  tenth 
chapter  of  Matthew.  Jesus  had  sent  forth  His  disciples  as 
sheep  among  wolves,  and  had  told  them  of  the  dangers  which 
awaited  them.    Then  comes  this  utterance,  "And  be  not  afraid 

61 


of  them  which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul: 
but  rather  fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and 
body  in  Gehenna."  Here  the  word  for  destroy  is  the  same  one 
translated  perish  above  and  translated  lose  in  a  later  verse  in 
the  same  chapter,  "He  that  findeth  his  life  [soul]  shall  lose  it." 

In  the  eighteenth  chapter  we  find  our  third  utterance  con- 
cerning Gehenna.  To  get  its  full  significance  one  needs  to  recall 
the  question  of  the  disciples  concerning  who  was  greatest  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  with  its  answer :  the  setting  of  a  little  child 
in  their  midst.  The  memorable  words,  that  it  were  better  that 
a  great  millstone  should  drown  one  in  the  depths  of  the  sea 
than  that  he  should  offend  or  cause  to  stumble  one  of  these 
little  ones,  follow  the  teaching  concerning  the  little  child  and 
precede  this  utterance,  ''And  if  thy  hand  or  thy  foot  causeth 
thee  to  stumble,  cut  it  off,  and  cast  it  from  thee :  it  is  good  for 
thee  to  enter  into  life  maimed  or  halt,  rather  than  having  two 
hands  or  two  feet  to  be  cast  into  the  eternal  [age-lasting]  fire." 
Again,  if  the  eye  caused  one  to  stumble,  it  was  to  be  plucked 
out,  for  it  was  good  ''to  enter  into  life  with  one  eye,  rather  than 
having  two  eyes  to  be  cast  into  the  Gehenna  of  fire."  Then  the 
Teacher  goes  on  with  His  teaching  as  to  the  little  ones  and  the 
gravity  of  the  question  asked.  The  perils  involved  grow  with 
every  sentence. 

In  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  Mark,  where  we  have  again  the 
hand,  the  foot,  and  the  eye  which  cause  to  offend  and  must  be 
parted  with,  the  atmosphere  is  the  same,  but  the  setting  is 
different.  John  had  forbidden  one  casting  out  demons  in  the 
name  of  Jesus.  Jesus  had  said,  "Forbid  him  not.  .  .  .  And 
whosoever  shall  cause  one  of  these  little  ones  that  believe  on 
me  to  stumble,"  it  were  better  for  him  to  enter  life  maimed, 
halt,  or  with  one  eye  rather  than  to  "go  into  Gehenna,  into  the 
unquenchable  fire  .  .  .  into  Gehenna;  where  their  worm  dieth 
not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched." 

Once  more  Jesus  uses  this  word  Gehenna,  in  a  chapter  of  woes 
pronounced,  for  reasons  given,  on  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees.  Of 
them  He  says  that  they  are  hypocrites;  that  they  compass  sea 

62 


and  land  to  make  one  proselyte;  and  that  *' When  he  is  become 
so,"  they  make  him  "twofold  more  a  son  of  Gehenna'^  than 
themselves.  After  a  terrible  arraignment  He  concludes,  "  Ye  ser- 
pents, ye  offspring  of  vipers,  how  shall  ye  escape  the  judgment 
of  Gehenna?" 

Let  us  run  over  quickly  these  references  to  see  what  they 
contribute  to  our  thought.  Fire,  unquenchable  fire,  judgment, 
and  the  "worm  that  dieth  not"  are  all  words  associated  with 
Gehenna.  Of  these,  unquenchable  fire  and  the  undying  worm 
would  bring  up  before  the  disciples'  minds,  as  did  the  word 
itself,  the  picture  of  what  was  taking  place  on  the  physical  side 
at  that  very  moment  in  the  valley  without  the  city.  What 
were  the  danger  signals?  The  disposition  to  impugn  the  piety 
of  others  is  one.  Check  this  spirit  if  you  would  escape  the  Ge- 
henna of  Jesus.  Desire,  as  set  forth  in  looking  upon  a  woman, 
is  another.  A  measure  as  drastic  as  the  plucking  out  of  an  eye 
is  made  the  symbol  of  the  treatment  one  must  give  himself  in 
order  to  escape  Gehenna.  The  disciples  wish  for  preeminence; 
they  are  insistent  as  to  whether  another  follows  them  or  not. 
The  remedy  lies  with  them.  They  must  cut  out  what  hinders 
them  or  enter  into  Gehenna.  An  entering  into  life  maimed,  and 
that  by  one's  own  act,  is  set  forth  in  this  and  the  other  passages 
which  use  the  same  symbol. 

What,  then,  is  Gehenna?  The  Pharisees  were  its  children. 
It  is  the  place  of  sanitation,  of  purification.  It  is  the  place 
where  that  which  would  breed  disease  and  spell  disaster  is  dealt 
with  by  God  under  the  symbols  of  fire  and  unquenchable  fire. 
It  is  the  place  of  judgment.  If  the  disciples  will  not  deal  with 
those  things  that  need  remedy  themselves,  it  will  be  done  in 
and  by  Gehenna.  The  fires  of  the  valley  of  Hinnom  saved  the 
people  from  what  would  have  resulted,  if  neglected,  in  pesti- 
lence and  death.  The  fire  of  Gehenna  was  the  way  in  which 
things  should  disappear  if  they  were  not  cut  off,  plucked  out 
by  the  disciples  themselves.  The  Gehenna  of  Jesus  takes  men 
in  the  body,  men  as  body  and  soul.  The  warning  is  given  that 
they  may  lose  both  body  and  soul  in  its  processes.    What  this 

63 


may  mean  will  be  touched  upon  later  in  the  study  of  the  soul, 
as  related  to  body,  soul,  and  spirit.  The  present  study  is  in- 
tended only  to  characterize  Gehenna  as  it  was  known  in  its 
physical  prototype  to  dwellers  in  Jerusalem,  and  as  the  teachings 
of  Jesus  interpret  its  function. 

GEHENNA:  II  Chron.  28:3,  33:6,  Jer.  7:31,  32;  19:6,  valley  of 
Hinnom,  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom;  Jas.  3:6,  Matt.  5:22-32, 
10:16-42,  18:1-14,  23:15-33,  Mark  9:38-50,  Luke  12:4,  5,  Ge- 
henna. 


HADES 

THE  word  Hades  is  translated  hell  in  the  King  James  Version 
of  the  New  Testament;  in  the  American  Revision  it  is 
transferred  bodily  from  the  Greek  into  our  English  Bible,  leaving 
the  word  hell  to  stand  for  its  Greek  original  Gehenna,  with  a  mar- 
ginal reading  in  each  of  the  eleven  instances  in  which  it  is  used, 
indicating  that  Gehenna  is  the  word  so  translated. 

The  word  hell  in  the  King  James  Version  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  universally  replaced  in  the  American  Revision  by  its 
Hebrew  original  Sheol.  No  single  change  has  contributed  more 
to  clearness  of  distinction  in  our  Bible  study  than  this  sorting 
out,  so  to  speak,  of  the  passages  originally  referring  indis- 
criminately to  hell  into  the  three  groups  referring  to  the  Sheol 
of  the  Hebrew,  the  Hades,  and  the  Gehenna  of  the  Greek. 

The  word  Hades  appears  in  the  New  Testament  ten  times, 
four  times  in  the  Gospels  on  the  lips  of  Our  Lord,  twice  in  the 
Book  of  Acts  in  quotation  from  the  Psalms  (where  it  is  used  in 
translation  of  the  Hebrew  word  Sheol),  and  four  times  in  the 
Book  of  Revelation. 

It  refers  to  the  invisible  world.  This  world  Jesus  entered  in 
the  interval  between  His  death  and  resurrection  "Thou  wilt 
not  leave  my  soul  in  Hades  (Ps.  16:10,  thou  wilt  not  leave  my 
soul  to  Sheol) "  we  read  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  Book  of 
Acts,  with  its  confirmatory,  "neither  was  he  left  in  Hades ^ 

64 


"And  thou,  Capernaum/*  Jesus  said,  "shalt  thou  be  exalted 
unto  heaven?  thou  shalt  go  down  unto  Hades:  for  if  the 
mighty  works  had  been  done  in  Sodom  which  were  done  in  thee, 
it  would  have  remained  unto  this  day."  A  woe  is  pronounced 
upon  the  city,  and  the  warning  is  given  that  it  shall  be  more 
tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom  in  the  day  of  judgment  than 
for  Capernaum.  A  great  city  is  awaiting,  in  the  world  beyond 
our  sight,  its  judgment. 

The  sequel  to  Peter's  answer  to  the  question  as  to  who  He, 
Jesus,  was  comes  in  Jesus'  utterance  that  this  had  been  revealed 
to  Him  by  the  Father,  and  that  on  this  rock  He  should  build 
His  church,  and  "the  gates  of  Hades  shall  not  prevail  against 
it."  The  phrase  "gates  of  Hades''  adds  this  to  our  picture: 
gates  are  entrances  which  open  and  shut  for  the  entrance  and 
exit  of  those  who  come  and  go.  An  outpouring  through  these 
gates  is  the  picture  we  get  of  Hades. 

The  other  reference  in  the  Gospels  comes  in  the  familiar  story 
of  the  rich  man  and  the  beggar  Lazarus  lying  at  his  gate.  Fea- 
tures of  this  story  shed  light  on  our  study.  It  is  practically  the 
one  source  of  such  knowledge  which  we  have.  The  beggar  died, 
"and  was  carried  away  by  the  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom," 
a  picture  of  felicity  and  plenty.  "The  rich  man  also  died,  and 
was  buried.  And  in  Hades  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  tor- 
ments, and  seeth  Abraham  afar  off,  and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom." 
Both  are  in  the  world  that  we  see  not :  one  miserable,  the  other 
blessed.  The  rich  man  sees  Abraham  afar  off;  he  calls  and  is 
answered.  He  asks  for  what  cannot  be  given,  and  the  reasons 
why  it  cannot  be  given  are  stated.  First,  addressing  the  rich 
man,  Abraham  calls  him  "Son";  then  he  reminds  him  that  he 
in  his  lifetime  received  his  good  things,  while  Lazarus  received 
evil  things.  Now  all  is  reversed:  Lazarus  is  "comforted,"  the 
rich  man  is  "in  anguish."  "And  beside  all  this,"  Abraham  con- 
tinues, [or  "in  all  these  things],  between  us  and  you  there  is  a 
great  gulf  fixed,  that  they  which  would  pass  from  hence  to  you 
may  not  be  able,  and  that  none  may  cross  over  from  thence  to 
us."    The  time  and  the  place  for  personal  interchange  such  as 

65 


earth  afforded  is  over.  The  desire  for  aid  and  sympathy  re- 
mained; the  opportunity  to  help  and  comfort  has  no  place  in 
Hades.  This  was  for  earth.  Accepting  this  the  rich  man  asks 
that  warning  may  be  sent  to  his  five  brethren.  This  too  is  re- 
fused. There  is  no  passage  from  Hades  to  earth.  And  when  he 
pleads  that  if  one  went  to  them  from  the  dead  they  would  re- 
pent, this  Friend  of  God,  Abraham,  this  one  who  said  *'Son'^ 
to  the  man  who  called  him  "Father  Abraham,"  says,  "If  they 
hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither  will  they  be  persuaded, 
if  one  rise  from  the  dead."  Here  we  learn  that  the  good  and  the 
evil  have  their  place  in  Hades.  The  great  gulf  relates  to  the 
exchanges  that  are  possible  on  earth,  but  not  permitted  in 
Hades. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Revelation  we  are  told  of 
Him  who  can  say,  "I  have  the  keys  of  death  and  of  Hades J^ 
The  Sheol  of  the  Old  Testament,  representing  the  Hebrew  teach- 
ing as  to  the  grave  and  what  follows,  has  in  it  extraordinary  de- 
scriptions of  the  way  in  which  the  great  ones  of  the  earth  are 
received  in  their  captivity;  for  to  the  Bible  writers  Sheol  was 
a  prison  house,  as  it  were,  where  all  were  held  captive  who  came 
into  this  company  through  death.  When  Jesus  Christ  says, 
"I  have  the  keys  of  death  and  of  Hades/'  it  means  that  this 
prison  is  opened  at  His  will.  When  we  read  that  when  He 
ascended  on  high  He  led  captivity  captive,  the  reference  is  to 
all  the  captive  dead,  all  who  are  in  Hades,  whom  He  has  won 
for  Himself.  In  the  sixth  chapter  of  Revelation  we  have  Death 
seated  on  a  pale  horse,"  and  Hades  followed  with  him";  in 
the  twentieth  Death  and  Hades  gave  up  the  dead  which  were 
in  them,  and  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. 

HADES:  Acts  2:27,  31,  leave  my  soul  in  Hades,  his  soul  was  not  left 
in  Hades;  Matt.  11:23,  Luke  10:15,  thou  shalt  go  down  unto 
Hades;  Matt.  16:18,  the  gates  of  Hades;  Luke  16:23,  in  Hades 
he  hfted  up  his  eyes;  Rev.  1 :  18,  the  keys  of  Hades;  6:8,  20: 13, 14, 
death  and  Hades. 


THE  FIRST  ADAM -THE  LAST 
ADAM 

THE  name  Adam  is  generic.  It  is  the  word  man  in  Genesis, 
and  this  specific  name  Adam  is  there  applied  to  the  first 
man  and  the  first  woman  unitedly,  so  that  as  a  name  it  includes 
both  male  and  female.  ''This  is  the  book  of  the  generations  of 
Adam.  In  the  day  that  God  created  man,  in  the  likeness  of 
God  made  he  him;  male  and  female  created  he  them;  and 
blessed  them,  and  called  their  name  Adam,  in  the  day  when  they 
were  created.^' 

Adam  was  a  living  soul,  a  soul  man.  What  this  meant  is  shown 
in  what  he  did,  at  least  in  a  measure.  "And  Out  of  the  ground 
Jehovah  God  formed  every  beast  of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of 
the  air.'^  He  brought  them  *'  unto  the  man  to  see  what  he  would 
call  them;  and  whatsoever  the  man  called  every  living  creature, 
that  was  the  name  thereof.'^  There  was  no  help  meet  for  him. 
When  she  was  formed  he  named  her  Eve,  the  mother  of  all  living, 
and  said,  ''This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones,  and  flesh  of  my  flesh: 
she  shall  be  called  Woman, '^  and  so  she  is  to  this  day,  according 
to  the  naming  of  Adam,  as  are  doubtless  all  the  cattle  and  the 
other  things  he  named.  It  was  this  first  man  whose  far-away 
look  led  him  to  say,  "Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father 
and  his  mother,  and  shall  cleave  unto  his  wife."  He  was  to 
subdue  the  earth;  he  was  to  be  fruitful  and  multiply;  he  was  to 
replenish  the  earth  as  it  was  depleted.  He  could  know  God,  and 
he  was  free.  He  could  obey;  he  could  disobey.  The ^rs^  Adam 
was  made  a  living  soul,  and  the  doing  of  all  these  things  was 
within  his  powers.  Ahead  of  this  richly  endowed  man  and 
woman  was  a  race  like  themselves. 

But  death  entered  in,  and  for  earth  the  last  word  was,  "dust 
thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return.''  All  through  his 
days,  though  they  lengthened  into  centuries,  the  death  mark 
would  be  upon  him.    What  could  offset  this?    Only  life.    And 

67 


what  is  the  Bible  statement  as  to  this?  "The  last  Adam  be- 
came a  Ufe-giving  spirit/'  The  first  Adam  begets  in  his  likeness; 
he  is  a  living  soul.  The  last  Adam,  in  His;  He  is  a  life-giving 
spirit.  Doubly  begotten,  men  will  be  quickened  by  a  life-giving 
spirit.    This  is  by  the  favor  or  grace  of  God. 

St.  Paul  tells  us  that  Adam  ''is  a  figure  of  him  that  was  to 
come."  That  this  coming  one  was  Jesus  Christ  is  made  very 
plain  in  the  succeeding  verses:  ''For  if  by  the  trespass  of  the  one 
the  many  died,  much  more  did  the  grace  of  God,  and  the  gift 
by  the  grace  of  the  one  man,  Jesus  Christ,  abound  unto  many. 
.  .  .  So  then  as  through  one  trespass  the  judgment  came  unto  all 
men  to  condemnation;  even  so  through  one  act  of  righteousness 
the  free  gift  came  unto  all  men  to  the  justification  of  life;  .  .  . 
that  as  sin  reigned  in  death,  even  so  might  grace  reign  through 
righteousness  unto  eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ  Our  Lord.'* 
The  Christ  of  the  New  Testament  is  the  Jehovah  of  the  Old 
Testament.  As  a  life-giving  spirit  that  enters  into  all  life  the 
Bible  never  loses  sight  of  God.  He  is  in  us  all,  a  life,  a  light  as 
we  come  into  our  human  heritage  through  our  parents. 

This  thought  of  a  double  head  to  the  race  under  these  two 
generic  names,  the  first  Adam,  the  last  Adam,  makes  clear  and 
solid  ground  upon  which  each  one  of  us  can  stand.  We  can 
follow  St.  Paul  when  he  says,  "The  first  man  is  of  the  earth, 
earthy."  Here  we  have  our  earthly  heritage.  There  is  light  on 
the  words,  "the  second  man  (our  progenitor,  the  giver  of  the 
spirit)  is  of  heaven."  We  see  the  meaning  of  such  phrases  as 
sitting  together  "in  the  heavenly  places,  in  Christ  Jesus." 
There  is  no  violence  in  the  thought.  We  begin  to  have  glimpses 
of  a  body  such  as  is  told  of  by  the  apostle  that  comes  into  sight 
as  the  "earthly  house  of  our  tabernacle  is  dissolved,"  and  we 
long  "to  be  clothed  upon  with  our  habitation  which  is  from 
heaven,"  "unclothed  and  yet  clothed  upon"  as  we  come  into 
the  presence  of  the  Lord.  We  begin  to  see  how  "  as  we  have  borne 
the  image  of  the  earthy,  we  shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the 
heavenly,"  for  as  the  first  Adam  begat  in  his  image  and  likeness, 
so  the  last  Adam  has  begotten  us  in  His,  by  His  quickening  spirit. 

68 


THE  IMAGE  AND  LIKENESS  OF 

GOD  IN  MAN 

LET  US  group  together  the  Scriptures  that  place  before  us 
the  truth  that  is  the  subject  of  this  word  study  and  gather 
from  them  in  what  the  image  and  likeness  consist.  This  cannot 
be  something  beyond  our  human  knowledge,  for  it  should  by  its 
very  nature  appear  in  our  knowledge  of  ourselves.  We  are 
familiar  with  the  verses.  *'  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after 
our  likeness J^  And  so  God  created  man  "in  his  own  image,  in 
the  image  of  God  created  he  him";  "in  the  likeness  of  God  made 
he  him;  male  and  female  created  he  them;  and  blessed  them, 
and  called  their  name  Adam.  .  .  .  And  Adam  begat  a  son  in 
his  own  likeness,  after  his  image. ^'  Turn  now  to  the  genealogy 
of  Jesus,  as  recorded  in  Luke's  Gospel,  and  we  find  that  the  list  of 
names  goes  back  to  "the  son  of  Seth,  the  son  of  Adam,  the  son  of 
God.'^  Again,  as  God  blessed  Noah  and  delivered  into  his  hand 
that  which  was  to  be  food  for  him  and  his,  giving  him  dominion 
as  he  had  given  Adam,  He  said,  "But  flesh  with  the  life  thereof, 
which  is  the  blood  thereof,  shall  ye  not  eat.  And  surely  your 
blood,  the  blood  of  your  lives,  will  I  require :  and  at  the  hand  of 
man,  even  at  the  hand  of  every  man's  brother,  will  I  require  the 
life  of  man.  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his 
blood  be  shed:  for  in  the  image  of  God  made  he  man." 

Two  things  are  to  be  noted.  The  genealogy  of  Adam  makes 
him  the  son  of  God,  a  sonship  that  went  with  his  creation.  On 
this  basis  all  are  sons  of  God,  for  Adam  begat  in  his  own  like- 
ness and  after  his  own  image.  Also  we  get  the  underlying  reason 
for  the  extermination  of  all  animals  that  take  the  life  of  man,  a 
result  that  always  goes  with  man's  inroads  into  forest  wilds, 
and  also  the  reason  why  a  shedder  of  his  brother's  blood  is  fated 
to  have  his  own  blood  shed.  The  taking  of  man's  blood  is,  by  the 
method  of  creation,  doing  violence  to  the  image  of  God.    The 

69 


word  life,  then,  lies  at  the  basis  of  this  word  image.  The  word 
in  the  Hebrew  is  nephesh,  soul.  (See  pages  18,  74.)  In  the  pulsing 
beats  of  the  blood  lies  hidden  a  life  that  must  not  be  taken  by 
man  or  beast.  This  does  not  mean  that  the  death  penalty  must 
always  follow,  for  later,  it  will  be  remembered,  cities  of  refuge 
were  provided  for  those  who  were  pursued  by  the  avenger  of 
blood  in  cases  where  murder  was  not  intended.  Cain  was  pro- 
tected by  God  during  his  lifetime  lest  men  take  his  life. 

The  word  image  occurs  frequently  in  Scripture.  The  making 
of  any  image  or  likeness  was  a  grave  offence.  This  was  because 
in  all  idolatries  men  bow  down  and  worship  the  idols  they  have 
made.  Men  are  sons  of  God.  We  are  made  in  His  image  be- 
cause we  have  in  us  His  life,  breathed  into  us  that  we  may  become 
living  souls.  In  its  beginnings  this  cannot  be  better  expressed 
than  in  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "My  frame  was  not  hidden 
from  thee,  when  I  was  made  in  secret  .  .  .  thine  eyes  did  see 
mine  unperfect  substance,"  etc.  (Ps.  139:15,  16.)  This  is  the 
beginning  of  the  life  in  a  coming  child  who  will  be  a  man  or 
woman,  made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God.  Of  the  grown 
man  we  read  in  St.  Paul's  Epistle  that  he  "is  the  image  and  the 
glory  of  God."  Standing  in  the  presence  of  those  who  are 
blinded  by  a  veil,  by  the  god  of  this  world,  and  so  are  in  darkness 
as  to  the  Gospel  light,  we  see  Christ,  "who  is  the  image  of  God." 
Of  this  Christ,  the  Son  of  His  Love,  we  know  that  He  laid  down 
his  life  for  men,  and  this  life  which  He  laid  down  was  the  life 
represented  by  the  Greek  word  psuche,  soul,  corresponding  to 
the  Hebrew  word  of  the  Creation  story,  the  soul  referred  to  in 
the  passage  of  Isaiah,  "  He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and 
be  satisfied  .  .  .  because  he  poured  out  his  soul  unto  death." 

Coming  to  the  "new  man,"  who  takes  the  place  of  the  "old 
man"  of  St.  Paul,  we  see  him  being  "renewed  unto  knowledge 
after  the  im^ge  of  him  that  created  him,"  a  striking  picture 
of  the  saved  or  living  man  where  the  idea  of  life  is  fundamental. 
As  the  newness  of  life  takes  on  stable  form  it  is  the  purpose  of 
God  that  we  be  "conformed  to  the  image  of  his  son,"  who  is 
"the  iwaflfe  of  the  invisible  God."    All  this  is  that  the  Son,  the 

70 


firstborn  of  creation,  may  be  also  the  firstborn  among  many 
brethren.  Again  we  are  brought  back  to  the  word  lifCy  the  im- 
perishable life  that  has  its  source  and  origin  in  God,  the  breath 
of  God  that  makes  men  living  souls.  There  is  sonship  by  adop- 
tion, sonship  by  inheritance,  the  sonship  that  is  begotten  of  the 
Spirit;  but  the  image  of  God  is,  as  our  study  indicates,  in  the 
living  soul.  That  it  may  be  transformed  into  a  still  more  per- 
fect image  we  are  taught,  for  "as  we  with  unveiled  face  reflect 
as  a  mirror  the  glory  of  God,  we  are  transformed  into  the  same 
iw^e  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  from  the  Lord  the  Spirit." 


BIBLE  BEGETTINGS 

IN  tLe  Old  Testament,  as  we  have  seen,  Adam  begat  a  son  in 
his  own  likeness,  ''after  his  image."  The  use  of  the  term 
throughout  the  Old  Testament  is  so  obvious  that  no  study  is 
needed.  But  it  is  different  in  the  New  Testament.  There  the 
Greek  word  for  begotten  is  sometimes  translated  born,  and  it  is 
to  this  that  the  attention  of  the  reader  is  called,  especially  in  the 
Gospel  and  Epistles  of  St.  John. 

The  word  bm-n  gives  us  a  child  with  all  the  organs  and  members 
of  a  full-grown  person;  the  words  beget  and  begotten  refer  to  a 
time  when  as  yet  no  organs  or  members  have  begun  to  form. 
When  we  read  in  John  3 :  16  of  the  ''  only  begotten  Son,"  the  word 
begotten  is  the  same  word  that  was  rendered  born  in  the  third 
and  fifth  verses  of  the  same  chapter,  when  Jesus  says  to  Nico- 
demus,  ''Except  a  man  be  born  anew,"  and  "except  a  man  be 
born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,"  as  also  in  the  thirteenth  verse  of 
the  first  chapter,  ^^born  [begotten],  not  of  blood  [bloods],  nor  of  the 
will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God." 

How  many  begettings,  beginnings,  of  life  does  St.  John  find 
in  a  man,  and  what  are  they?  The  number  recorded  is  five, 
and  in  this  fact  we  get  a  vivid  idea  of  what  man's  life  is  or  may 
be.  We  find  it  properly  classified,  too,  and  answering  to  our 
own  experience  and  observation.    In  the  verse  just  quoted  we 

71 


have  begotten  of  God,  begotten  of  blood,  begotten  of  the  will  of  the 
flesh,  begotten  of  the  will  of  man,  all  affirmed  of  man.  It  is  not 
simply  Bible  truth  that  the  life  is  in  the  blood.  We  speak  of 
having  blood  in  our  veins,  and  we  rejoice  in  it.  The  blooded 
cattle  and  horses  tell  the  same  story.  We  come  of  a  certain  an- 
cestry and  are  different  from  others  of  other  blood.  The  state- 
ment made  in  this  verse  is  that  this  fact  is  so  vital  that  we  have 
here  a  begetting,  a  life  that  springs  from  this  source. 

^'Begotten  of  the  will  of  the  flesh''  carries  another  meaning. 
"The  Word  became  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us  (and  we  beheld 
his  glory,  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  from  the  Father)."  This 
gives  us  the  man  Jesus,  with  His  will.  We  are  flesh.  The  will 
of  the  flesh  is  ourselves  as  we  gather  ourselves  together  and 
will  to  do  this  or  become  that.  So  vital  is  this  that  in  the 
strength  of  such  a  purpose  men  are  so  changed  that  they  are 
begotten  anew.    Everyone  knows  this. 

And  what  is  '*  begotten  of  the  will  of  man  "?  We  readily  under- 
stand that  there  is  a  collective  force  in  masses  of  men,  and  in  the 
times  in  which  we  live,  that  so  forcibly  expresses  itself  that  it  is 
the  will  of  man.  Great  struggles  for  a  cause  make  this  conspic- 
uous, as  with  slavery,  intemperance,  etc. 

Then  there  is  '^begotten  of  God."  Those  who  "received  him 
to  them  gave  he  the  right  to  become  children  of  God,"  which 
were  begotten  not  only  in  one  of  the  three  ways  above  named, 
"  but  of  God."  Those  to  whom  this  right  is  given  are  those  who 
"  received  Him  "  and  that "  Him  "  refers  to  the  Word  that  became 
flesh,  which  "lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world." 

Four  begettings,  four  possible  lines  of  life  and  of  living,  may 
exist  in  the  same  person  and  all  develop  at  the  same  time.  All 
that  is  in  ancestry  is  in  one  begetting;  all  that  comes  to  us  as 
we  will  and  work  our  own  way  along  chosen  paths  is  in  another, 
which  takes  in  all  culture,  all  professions,  all  our  "willed" 
doing;  another  bears  the  stamp  of  our  times  and  fashions  us  to 
its  will;  and  there  is  yet  another,  a  begetting  that  comes  from 
God,  without  whom  we  should  not  be  here  at  all,  and  that  lays 
the  foundation  for  a  right  given  us  to  become  children,  the  chil- 

72 


dren  of  God.  We  have  accepted  and  followed  the  light  that  came 
from  the  life  He  gives  to  all,  and  it  has  been  our  guide,  for  "in 
him  was  life;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men." 
'  '  In  the  third  chapter  of  John's  Gospel  we  have  two  births  or 
begettings  named  by  Jesus  Himself  as  He  talks  with  Nicodemus. 
Nicodemus  had  said,  **  Rabbi,  we  know  that  thou  art  a  teacher 
come  from  God :  for  no  man  can  do  these  signs  that  thou  doest, 
except  God  be  with  him."  Jesus  answered,  ''Verily,  verily,  I 
say  unto  thee.  Except  a  man  be  horn  [begotten]  anew  [from  above], 
he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  This  was  the  kingdom  of 
which  Jesus  was  teaching.  The  conversation  goes  on,  and  in  it 
Jesus  agam  uses  this  word.  This  is  the  sentence, ''  Except  a  man 
be  born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God."  Nicodemus  saw,  but  had  not  entered.  A  "begetting 
of  the  Spirit"  was  the  way.  To  Nicodemus  the  word  water  was 
added,  for  the  Spirit  was  little  known.  Water  was  the  symbol 
of  life,  a  symbol  that  the  ruler  would  readily  transfer  to  the 
word  "begotten  of  (water  and)  the  Spirit."  This  is  the  fifth 
begetting,  found  in  the  Gospel  according  to  John,  the  begetting 
referred  to  in  the  First  Epistle  of  John  (3:9;  5:1,  4,  18). 

FIRST  ADAM  —  LAST  ADAM:  Gen.  5:2,  called  theu*  name  Adam; 
I  Cor.  15:45,  the  first  man  Adam  became  a  living  soul.  The  last 
Adam  became  a  life-giving  spirit;  Rom.  5: 14,  a  figiu-e  of  him  that 
was  to  come;  I  Cor.  15:47,  the  first  man  is  of  the  earth,  earthy: 
the  second  man  is  of  heaven. 

IMAGE:  Gen.  1:26,  27,  man  in  our  image;  5:3,  after  his  image; 
Luke  3:38,  the  son  of  Adam,  the  son  of  God;  Gen.  9:6,  in  the 
image  of  God;  I  Cor.  11:7,  the  image  and  glory  of  God;  II  Cor. 
4:4,  Christ,  who  is  the  image  of  God;  Col.  1: 15,  the  image  of  the 
invisible  God;  3:10,  image  of  him  that  created  him;  Rom.  8:29, 
image  of  his  son;  II  Cor.  3: 18,  transformed  into  the  same  image. 

BEGETTING:  Gen.  5:3,  Adam  .  .  .  begat  a  son;  John  3:16,  only 
begotten  Son;  1: 13,  bom,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh, 
nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God;  1: 12,  right  to  become  the  chil- 
dren of  God;  3:3,  5,  bom  anew,  bom  of  water  and  the  Spirit. 


73 


BODY,  SOUL,  AND  SPIRIT 

ST.  PAUL  prayed  for  his  brethren  of  the  church  of  the  Thes- 
salonians  that  "spirit  and  soul  and  body^'  might  be  "pre- 
served entire,  blameless  unto  the  coming  [presence]  of  the  Lord" 
(I  Thess.  5 :  23).  Thus,  and  thus  only,  would  a  man  be  preserved 
entire.  This  was  his  teaching,  the  Biblical  teaching,  concerning 
the  nature  of  man.  To  interpret  it  is  our  study;  to  realize  this 
entirety  should  be  our  prayer. 

Let  us  consider  first  the  body.  It  was  formed  from  material 
which  was  in  existence  prior  to  its  creation,  the  dust  of  the  earth. 
Afterwards  Jehovah  said,  "Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt 
thou  return."  This  is  our  physical  body^  our  earthly  home.  But 
there  is  another  naming  given  to  our  bodies  by  St.  Paul  as  he 
tells  us  of  the  resurrection  and  of  the  body  that  has  gone  into 
the  grave.  "It  is  sown  a  natural  [soul]  body  ;  it  is  raised  a  spir- 
itual [spirit]  body^^  (I  Cor.  15:44).  The  body  has  been  the 
home  of  the  soul,  the  organism  through  which  the  soul  has  ex- 
pressed itself  in  its  varied  life.  It  is  because  the  body  is  of  the 
earth  that  it  answers  in  illness  or  weakness  to  remedies  born  of 
the  earth,  and  so  is  helped  to  recovery.  Because  it  is  also  a  psy- 
chical or  soul  body  it  responds  to  the  call  of  the  soul  and  rallies 
in  a  most  wonderful  manner  in  obedience  to  that  call.  In  these 
two  facts  as  to  the  body  lies  the  secret  of  life  and  health  as  they 
stand  related  to  schools  of  medicine  and  schools  of  thought. 
Both  are  true;  both  answer  to  the  needs  of  man  as  a  living  soul. 

The  word  life  [a  living  soul]  appears  in  the  Creation  story  as 
relating  to  every  beast  of  the  earth,  every  bird  of  the  heavens, 
and  everything  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth.  To  such  it  is  said 
that  every  green  herb  was  given  for  food.  Of  Adam  also  it  is 
said  that  he  became  a  living  souly  the  Hebrew  word  being  the 
same  as  that  used  of  beasts,  birds,  and  creeping  things.  (See 
page  18.)  We  thus  have  the  man  and  the  beasts,  birds,  and  creep- 
ing things  linked  together  by  this  phrase,  a  living  soul.    As  we 

74 


look  further  in  the  Bible  for  the  word  soul,  we  find  in  the  Book 
of  Isaiah  Jehovah  saying,  *' Behold  my  servant,  whom  I  uphold; 
my  chosen,  in  whom  my  soul  delighteth.'^  In  Jeremiah  we  read 
of  Jehovah,  "Shall  not  my  soul  be  avenged  on  such  a  nation 
as  this?''  and,  once  more,  *'Hast  thou  utterly  rejected  Judah? 
hath  thy  soul  loathed  Zion?"  (Isa.  42:1;  Jer.  9:9,  14:19).  In 
Leviticus  and  elsewhere  the  same  use  of  the  word  soul  as  ap- 
plied to  God  is  found,  so  that  this  word  soul  in  the  Bible  be- 
longs to  God,  to  men,  and  to  certain  living  creatures.  What  is 
the  common  root  thought  here?  What  does  it  mean  as  to  the 
soul  f  Is  it  not  that  it  represents  that  aspect  of  life  which  has  in 
it  adaptation  to  the  life  which  is  being  lived?  The  bird  is  adapted 
to  its  environment.  The  soul  life  within  it,  by  the  Creator's 
will,  makes  it  a  bird  and  gives  it  all  its  adaptations  to  the  air 
in  which  it  flies  and  the  earth  where  it  gathers  its  food  and  breeds 
its  young.  The  same  is  true  of  the  beasts  of  the  field.  Because 
this  is  true  there  is  in  the  beast  the  intelligence  which  is  needed 
for  the  life  it  lives  with  its  kind  and  with  men.  So  man  because 
he  has  a  soul  and  a  soul  body  which  has  grown  with  the  develop- 
ing intelligence  and  powers  of  the  soul  is  adapted  to  the  earth 
where  he  lives.  He  mates  and  builds  his  home.  He  toils  and 
so  furnishes,  beautifies,  and  cares  for  that  home.  He  can  live 
in  all  climates  and  do  all  sorts  of  things.  His  adaptations  are 
boundless  as  compared  with  those  to  whom  he  is  joined,  as  it 
were,  in  a  community  of  earth  life.  And  this  is  true  of  God. 
He  has  adaptability,  so  to  speak.  He  changes,  as  we  have  seen, 
to  meet  the  changing  lives  of  men,  blessing  one  man  and  with- 
holding for  a  time  something  from  another  as  He  works  on  His 
plan  to  do  good  to  men.  Is  not  this  the  key  to  the  language, 
to  the  many  words  that  the  Bible  uses  in  setting  forth  God's 
ways  as  He  deals  with  men?  Is  not  this  key  found  in  that  com- 
munity of  life  which  belongs  to  His  soul  life  as  common  with 
our  souls  and  their  life?  Does  not  this  explain  how  in  the  Bible 
such  words  as  anger,  jealousy,  love,  hate  are  His  words  because 
they  are  our  words?  So  of  such  words  as  perish  and  destruction ; 
they  are  time  words.    We  know  them  only  as  men  and  things  go 

75 


out  of  our  sight;  God  uses  them  when  He  speaks  of  what  He 
does  and  what  He  will  do,  or  of  what  will  happen,  as  when  He 
repented  that  He  had  made  man  upon  the  earth  and  it  grieved 
Him  at  His  heart. 

The  soul  belongs  primarily  to  time  and  to  sensible  things  and 
relations.  Its  vision  is  limited.  It  deals  with  things  that  are 
material,  from  eating  and  drinking  to  art  and  music,  for  it 
never  hears  or  sees  beyond  what  the  ear  and  eye  of  the  body 
allow,  unless  it  is  quickened  by  the  spirit.  Great  as  have  been 
the  things  achieved  by  men,  what  an  utter  failure  has  the 
wisdom  of  this  world  been  when  it  was  not  quickened  by  the 
spirit,  not  related  to  God's  wisdom!  That  leads  us  to  spirit  in 
ourselves  and  spirits  as  they  are  and  are  to  be. 

The  spirit  of  a  man  takes  hold  on  the  invisible,  that  which 
lies  back  of  all  that  appears,  that  from  which  all  seen  things  are 
made.  It  has  as  yet  no  vehicle  for  its  adequate  and  complete 
expression.  This  is  a  common,  everyday  experience.  So  in  God's 
plan  we  are  to  be  unclothed  that  we  may  be  clothed  upon  with 
a  body  which  is  from  heaven.  Naked  spirit  is  unknown  to  the 
Bible;  it  is  not  suggested  as  to  be  desired.  Read  for  yourself 
the  familiar  passage  in  Second  Corinthians  (4 :  16-5 : 5)  where  the 
experiences  which  await  us  when  the  earthly  house  of  our  taber- 
nacle is  dissolved  are  hinted  at,  and  note  that  "he  that  wrought 
us  for  this  very  thing  is  God,  who  gave  unto  us  the  earnest  of 
the  Spirit."  That  there  is  a  difference  between  soul  and  spirit 
is  the  teaching  of  the  Scriptures.  That  which  is  written  to  the 
Hebrews  discloses  to  us  how  this  was  understood  by  the  readers 
of  the  Old  Testament:  "The  word  of  God  is  living,  and  active 
.  .  .  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  of  soul  and  spirit,  .  .  .  and 
quick  to  discern  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart"  (Heb. 
4:12).  This  was  the  faith  of  the  Hebrew  people.  We  read  of 
Jesus  that,  "perceiving  in  his  spirit  that  they  so  reasoned  among 
themselves,"  He  said  unto  them,  "Why  reason  ye  these  things 
in  your  hearts?"  (Mark  2:8).  This  was  that  insight  of  which 
St.  Paul  spoke  when  he  said,  "For  who  among  men  knoweth  the 
things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of  a  man,  which  is  in  him?"  (I 

76 


Cor.  2:11).  When  the  Pharisees  asked  for  a  sign,  Jesus  "sighed 
deeply  in  his  spirit' '  and  answered  that  none  should  be  given. 
They  were  tempting  Him.  We  read  on  another  occasion  that  He 
rejoiced  in  spirit  (Luke  10:21).  His  last  words  on  the  cross  were, 
"Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit.' '  When  He  had 
said  this,  "he  yielded  up  his  spirit."  The  soul  receiveth  not  the 
things  of  the  spirit.  They  are  foolishness  to  the  natural  (soul) 
man.  Only  by  the  Spirit  of  God  are  His  things  known,  and 
these  are  known  in  the  spirit  of  the  man.  This  was  the  mind  of 
Christ. 

•  It  is  one  of  the  pressing  needs  of  the  teaching  of  to-day  that 
men  be  taught  that  the  spirit,  soul,  and  body  hold  together  in 
unity  only  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  when  the  spirit  rules  the  other 
two  as  it  should.  "  He  that  is  joined  unto  the  Lord  is  one  spirit " 
(I  Cor.  6: 17-20).  Men  should  be  taught  as  to  their  body  that 
it  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  is  in  them,  which  they 
have  from  God.  All  men  should  take  this  fact  for  their  comfort 
as  did  the  apostle,  for  as  temples  of  the  living  God  we  are  those  of 
whom  it  is  written  (II  Cor.  6:16),  "God  said,  I  will  dwell  in 
them,  and  walk  in  them." 


THE  LOSS  OF  THE  SOUL 

THE  only  teaching  concerning  the  loss  of  the  soul  is  found 
in  the  New  Testament,  and  there  only  in  the  Gospels. 
The  word  lost  by  Jesus  is  applied  in  other  ways  than  to  the  soul, 
as  in  lost  sheep,  the  lost  coin,  the  lost  son.  It  is  found  also  in 
the  sentence,  "For  the  Son  of  Man  came  to  seek  and  to  save 
that  which  was  lost,"  which  follows  the  story  of  Zacchaeus, 
bringing  out  apparently  the  teaching  (since  the  words  are  pref- 
aced by  "for,"  a  word  of  conclusions)  that  Zacchaeus  was  found, 
restored  to  his  place  as  a  child  of  Abraham. 

The  loss  of  the  soul  is  spoken  of  seven  times,  not  all  using  the 
word  loss  exclusively.  Three  times,  in  the  first  three  Gospels, 
it  is  a  repetition,  placed  in  the  same  setting  as  an  illustration  of 

77 


what  is  meant  as  it  is  used  by  Our  Lord;  in  St.  John's  Gospel 
the  words  used  are  loving  and  hating  the]  soul,  instead  of  losing 
and  saving  it;  twice  elsewhere  the  word  saved  is  replaced  by  the 
word  found.  In  every  case  this  word  of  loss  as  spoken  by  Mat- 
thew, Mark,  and  Luke  of  the  soul  reads  thus,  "For  whosoever 
will  (or  would)  save  his  soul  shall  lose  it,  and  whosoever  will  (or 
shall)  lose  his  soul  for  my  sake  and  the  Gospel's  [good  news, 
good  tidings],  the  same  shall  save  it."  In  each  Gospel  this  verse 
is  followed  by  *'What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  shall  gain  the 
whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  9 ''  Jesus  thus  places  the  word 
soul  over  against  the  world,  as  it  is  in  the  Old  Testament,  and 
speaks  of  it  as  concerned  with  the  things  of  sense  and  time,  as 
we  meet  them  in  our  usual  daily,  worldly  life,  but  as  capable  of 
better  things,  for  in  these  there  is  no  profit,  no  exchange  for 
what  is  given.  Now  what  does  the  loss  of  the  soul  mean  as 
Jesus  used  the  words?  As  they  are  found  only  on  His  lips,  what 
did  they  signify  to  the  Teacher  who  alone  knows  what  is  in  man? 
If  you  go  back  a  single  verse  in  each  of  the  three  Gospels  you 
read,  ^*  If  any  man  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself, 
take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me."  Then  come  the  words, 
**For  whosoever  would  save  his  soul/'  etc.  We  are  carried  back, 
then,  to  selfhood  in  every  man  as  it  may  assert  itself  in  denying, 
coming  after,  and  following  the  example  of  Jesus.  If  you  go 
back  one  step  further,  it  is  written,  ''From  that  time  began 
Jesus  to  shew  unto  his  disciples,  how  that  he  must  go  unto  Jeru- 
salem, and  suffer  many  things  of  the  elders  and  chief  priests  and 
scribes,  and  be  killed,  and  the  third  day  be  raised  up."  The  reader 
of  these  words  sees  at  once  a  cross,  a  crucifixion,  and  catches  a 
glimpse  of  what  following  Jesus  may  mean.  Once  more  you 
look,  and  Peter  and  Jesus  stand  apart  a  little  while  the  disciple 
says,  ''This  shall  never  be  unto  thee."  This  seems  natural 
enough.  Why  should  they  go  farther  on  this  journey  when  it 
had  such  an  ending?  That  was  a  human  soul  speaking  out  what 
any  man  might  say.  Jesus  recognized  this  when,  after  saying, 
"Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan,"  He  added  in  explanation,  "Thou 
mindest  not  the  things  of  God  but  the  things  of  men."   This  was 

78 


a  purely  human  standpoint.  Now  comes  the  time  to  teach  the 
disciples  and  all  men  how  to  save  their  souls.  It  was  by  the  way 
He  their  Teacher  was  travelling.  Its  method  was  to  deny  one's 
self.  What  self,  and  how  were  they  and  are  we  to  do  this? 
Let  the  experience  of  Peter  himself  be  the  answer.  Jesus  had 
told  him  that  in  Jerusalem,  whither  they  were  going,  he  would 
deny  Him.  How  did  he  do  it?  To  those  who  said,  ''Thou  also 
wast  with  Jesus  the  Galilean,"  he  denied,  saying,  "I  know  not 
the  man."  To  deny  one's  self  is  not  some  practice  in  self-denial, 
not  the  refraining  from  taking  or  using  something  that  one  de- 
sires, but  the  saying  to  the  soul  in  its  self-assertion,  "I  know 
you  not.    Begone;  thou  shalt  not  rule  me  as  I  go  my  way." 

What  did  Jesus  teach,  then,  as  to  your  soul  and  your  losing  it? 
If  you  set  out  to  save  it,  it  shall  be  lost.  You  will  attain  not 
to  what  you  desire.  Self-saving  is  futile.  But  if  you  lose  your 
soul  for  Me  and  My  good  tidings,  you  thereby  come  to  all  that  is 
signified  in  a  soul  saved.  This  is  the  law  of  the  souVs  life  as  it 
expresses  itself.  Is  this  a  strange  thing  to  us?  Not  at  all.  It 
is  the  way  that  is  humanly  most  to  be  desired;  it  is  a  man's 
way  to  fulness  in  his  human  life.  The  husband  loses  himself  in 
his  wife,  the  wife  in  the  husband,  and  thereby  their  union  is 
made  complete.  Parents  lose  themselves  in  their  children, 
children  in  their  parents,  and  we  have  the  home.  The  teacher 
loses  himself  in  the  pupils,  the  pupils  in  their  teacher,  the  man 
in  his  work,  the  preacher  in  his  people,  and  by  this  means  we 
are  on  the  road  to  harmony;  by  it  the  best  that  is  in  us  comes 
to  the  front  and  we  attain  to  God's  thought  for  us  in  our  human, 
our  soul  lives.  When  Jesus  said,  *'Lose  yourselves,  your  souls, 
for  Me  and  My  cause,"  He  set  before  us  how  men  always  lose 
themselves  in  a  person  or  a  cause,  in  this  case  the  person  being 
Himself,  who  is  lifted  high  above  all  others,  the  Cause,  the  one 
that  includes  all  causes.  Thus  are  men  saved  as  to  their  souls, 
and  thus  only,  as  Jesus  Christ  saves  them. 

But  what  of  Jesus  and  His  soul  f  Let  the  answer  be  in  His 
own  words.  Certain  Greeks  said  to  Philip,  "We  would  see 
Jesus."     When  He  was  told,  Jesus  answered,  saying,  ''The 

79 


hour  is  come  that  the  Son  of  Man  should  be  glorified.  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  except  a  grain  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground 
and  die,  it  abideth  by  itself  alone;  but  if  it  die,  it  beareth  much 
fruit."  He  was  facing  the  death  by  which  He  should  be  glorified. 
Then  He  added,  "He  that  loveth  his  soul  loseth  it;  and  he  that 
hateth  his  soul  in  this  world  shall  keep  it  unto  life  eternal."  We 
have  seen  the  love  in  Bible  language  describes  union  by  choice; 
hate,  by  choice,  divides  instead  of  joining.  So  here  Jesus  tells 
us  how  the  soul  stands  alone  or  becomes  fruitful.  Then  He 
adds,  "If  any  man  serve  me,  let  him  follow  me;  and  where  I 
am  there  shall  also  my  servant  be:  if  any  man  serve  me,  him 
will  the  Father  honor."  Then  come  the  words  that  explain  what 
was  passing  in  His  soul.  "Now  is  my  sowHroubled;  and  what 
shall  I  say?  (Shall  I  say,)  Father,  save  me  from  this  hour. 
But  for  this  cause  came  I  unto  this  hour."  His  answer  was, 
"Father,  glorify  thy  name."  He  had  lost  Himself.  He  had 
passed  from  where  His  soul  was  troubled  as  He  looked  forward: 
He  had  not  loved,  but  had  hated  His  own  soul. 

Only  once  besides  are  we  so  taken  into  the  soul  life  of  Jesus. 
It  was  at  Gethsemane.  He  took  with  him  Peter,  who  had  been 
the  occasion  of  what  He  had  said  as  to  losing  the  soul  (as  recorded 
in  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke),  and  began  to  be  sorrowful, 
greatly  amazed,  sorely  troubled.  Then  He  said,  "My  soul  is 
exceeding  sorrowful,  even  unto  death."  Leaving  them  a  little 
He  went  forward,  fell  on  His  face,  and  prayed,  "0  my  Father, 
if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  away  from  me:  nevertheless, 
not  as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt."  Three  times  He  thus  prayed, 
the  prayer  of  His  soul,  and  always,  "Thy  will  be  done."  This 
is  the  prayer  He  taught  his  disciples,  "Thy  will  be  done  on 
earth,"  the  prayer  in  which  we  lose  our  souls,  as  did  He.  "  Greater 
love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  [soul] 
for  his  friends.  Ye  are  my  friends  if  ye  do  the  things  which  I 
command  you." 

SOUL— LIFE  {Psuche)  A  Partial  List:  Matt.  10:28,  to  kill  the  soul; 
both  body  and  soul;  10:39,  findeth  his  life,  loseth  his  life;  11:29, 
rest  unto  your  souls ;  12 :  18,  in  whom  my  soul  is  well  pleased ;  16 :  25, 

80 


26,  save  his  life,  lose  his  life,  forfeit  his  life,  in  exchange  for  his  life; 
20: 28,  to  give  his  life;  22: 37,  with  all  thy  soul;  26:38,  my  soul  is 
exceeding  sorrowful.  Mark  8:35-37,  save  his  life,  lose  his  life, 
forfeit  his  life,  in  exchange  for  his  life;  10:45,  to  give  his  life; 
12 :  30,  with  all  thy  soul ;  14 :  34,  my  soul.  Luke  9 :  24,  save  his  life, 
lose  his  life;  10:27,  with  all  thy  soul;  12:19,  20,  22,  23,  say  to  my 
soul.  Soul,  thy  soul  required  of  thee;  be  not  anxious  for  your  life, 
the  life  is  more  than  the  food;  14: 26,  yea,  and  his  own  life ;  17: 33, 
gain  his  life,  lose  his  life  shall  preserve  it  [save  it  ahve];  21: 19,  in 
your  patience  ye  shall  win  your  souls.  John  10: 11,  15,  17,  layeth 
down  his  life  ..  .  that  I  may  take  it  again;  12:25,  27,  loveth  his 
life,  hateth  his  Hfe,  now  is  my  soul  troubled;  15:13,  that  a  man 
lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends.  Acts  2 :  27,  leave  my  soul  in  Hades. 
Rom.  2:9,  every  soul  of  man;  13:1,  every  soul  be  in  subjection; 
I  Cor.  2: 14,  the  natxiral  man  [psuchikds];  15:44,  45,  a  natural  body 
[psuchikds],  a  Hving  soul;  I  Thess.  5:23,  your  spirit  and  soul  and 
body;  Heb.  4: 12,  to  the  dividing  of  soul  and  spirit;  10:38,  39,  my 
soul  hath  no  pleasure  in  him;  unto  the  saving  of  the  soul;  Jas.  1 :  21, 
able  to  save  your  souls;  3:15,  wisdom  that  is  .  .  .  sensual  [psu- 
chikds, marginal  reading,  natural,  or  animal];  5:20,  save  a  soul 
from  death;  I  Pet.  1:9,  salvation  of  your  souls;  22,  purified  your 
souls;  2: 11,  25,  war  against  the  soul,  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of 
your  souls;  III  John  2,  as  thy  soul  prospereth. 


SIN 

SIN  is  a  generic  word.  As  such  it  breaks  upon  us  in  many 
forms  such  as  transgression,  iniquity,  and  in  specific  sins,  in- 
dividual, national,  and  world-wide.  In  this  study  we  seek  for 
the  root  meaning  and  find  it  in  the  brief  biography  of  Cain,  the 
firstborn  of  Adam.  Abel  and  Cain  bring  offerings  to  Jehovah. 
Cain  brings  of  the  fruits  of  the  ground;  Abel  adds  to  these  the 
firstlings  of  his  flock.  (He  brought  also  is  the  reading  of  the 
text.)  *'And  Jehovah  had  respect  unto  Abel  and  to  his  offer- 
ing: but  unto  Cain  and  to  his  offering  he  had  not  respect." 
Cain  was  very  angry.  Jehovah  said,  *'Why  art  thou  wroth? 
and  why  is  thy  countenance  fallen?    If  thou  doest  well,  shall  it 

81 


not  be  lifted  up?  and  if  thou  doest  not  well,  sin  coucheth  at  the 
door:  and  unto  thee  shall  be  its  desire,  but  thou  shouldest  rule 
over  it."  Rule  over  what?  Over  desire.  Man  was  made  to 
rule,  and  he  who  was  to  have  dominion  must  first  be  the  ruler 
of  himself.    The  control  here  was  to  be  over  desire. 

In  St.  John's  Gospel  we  have  what  carries  us  far  with  this 
conception,  "Every  one  that  committeth  sin  is  the  bondservant 
of  sin,'^  He  is  no  longer  his  own  master.  As  Jesus  goes  on  with 
His  teaching  He  asks,  "Which  of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin?" 
He  has  spoken  of  Himself  as  a  son  in  contrast  with  the  bond- 
servant, who  is  the  slave  of  sin.  He  has  given  them  place  as 
bondservants  in  the  words,  "Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil," 
and  has  added  as  a  mark  of  it,  "and  the  lusts  [desires]  of  your 
father  it  is  your  will  to  do. "  Lust  is  desire,  a  fact  to  hold  steadily 
in  mind  as  we  read  the  Bible.  Here  again  we  have  desire  and 
sin  in  their  true  relation.  In  the  Epistle  of  St.  James  we  have 
them  coupled  again.  "Each  man  is  tempted  [tested]  when  he 
is  drawn  away  by  his  own  lust  (desire),  and  enticed.  Then  the 
lust,  when  it  hath  conceived,  beareth  sin." 

In  these  Scriptures  we  have  seen  sin  in  man  at  its  birth. 
Follow  this  thought  through  the  Bible.  Israel  lusted  after 
the  fleshpots  of  Egypt,  and  so  sinned  against  Jehovah.  Read 
the  story  of  David  and  see  what  the  ungoverned  desire  of  the 
monarch  had  done  as  he  stood  self-convicted  before  the  prophet 
Nathan;  then  reread  the  penitential  psalms. 

If  now  we  turn  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  this  question 
faces  us,  "Is  the  law  sin?"  "God  forbid,"  replies  the  apostle, 
"howbeit  I  had  not  known  sm,  except  through  the  law:  for  I 
had  not  known  coveting  [lust],  except  the  law  had  said.  Thou 
shalt  not  covet  [lust] :  but  sin,  finding  occasion,  wrought  in  me 
through  the  commandment  all  manner  of  coveting  [lust]:  for 
apart  from  the  law  sin  is  dead."  Here  is  a  prohibition,  then 
an  awakened  desire  for  what  is  forbidden,  a  choosing  to  go  one's 
own  way,  to  follow  one's  own  desire,  with  the  outcome  sin, 
which  thus  becomes  our  master.  This  is  human  experience  as 
set  forth  in  this  chapter,  the  best  known  and  perhaps  the  most 

82 


quoted  by  those  who  follow  the  exhortation  to  know  themselves. 
We  quite  understand,  out  of  our  experience,  the  words  of  the 
apostle  as  he  ends  his  argument,  ''O  wretched  man  that  I  am! 
who  shall  deliver  me  out  of  the  body  of  this  death  [this  body  of 
death]  ?'^  We  have  been  there  ourselves,  and  share  the  relief 
of  Paul  as  he  adds,  "I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord."  By  His  help,  the  abiding  in  His  word,  the  truth  will 
become  known  to  us  as  it  did  to  Paul,  the  truth  that  makes  us 
free.  (It  is  worth  noting  that  this  teaching  of  Jesus  concerning 
the  truth  that  shall  make  us  free  is  in  the  chapter  of  St.  John's 
Gospel  quoted  above.  Is  not  the  freedom  to  be  freedom  from 
servitude  to  sin?)  Going  on  in  the  same  Epistle,  we  have  St. 
Paul  writing,  "whatsoever  is  not  of  faith  is  sin.''  The  context 
is  the  difference  between  the  disciples  concerning  days  and 
meats.  The  real  point  is,  are  you  in  doubt?  Do  you  do  or 
refrain  from  doing  because  you  think  it  to  be  the  will  of  God? 
If  you  doubt,  go  not  forward.  Be  sure  in  your  own  mind.  Let 
what  you  do  be  bom  of  your  faith,  or  else  it  is  sin.  Go  back  once 
more  to  the  teachings  of  St.  James  and  let  him  illuminate  this 
point  further.  "To  him  therefore  who  knoweth  to  do  good  and 
doeth  it  not,  to  him  it  is  sin.''  Once  more  we  have  put  a  mark 
on  the  word  sin.  Where  there  is  light  given,  it  must  be  followed. 
The  convincing  proof  of  this  is  the  words  of  Our  Lord  Himself: 
once  in  His  condemnation  of  the  Pharisees  in  their  treatment  of 
the  man  blind  from  his  birth,  but  restored  to  sight,  "If  ye  were 
blind,  ye  would  have  no  sin :  but  now  ye  say.  We  see :  your  sin 
remaineth";  and  again,  as  He  spoke  to  His  disciples  of  the 
world  at  whose  hands  they  would  suffer,  "If  I  had  not  come 
and  spoken  unto  them,  they  had  not  had  sin :  but  now  they 
have  no  excuse  for  their  sin."  These  words  need  no  comment, 
but  they  may  suggest  to  us  why  men's  ears  are  closed,  their 
eyes  shut,  and  their  hearts  hardened,  lest  they  should  see  and 
hear  and  not  do.  It  is  God's  mercy  that  withholds,  even  as  it 
is  God's  mercy  that  gives  light,  till  His  own  hour  comes. 

St.  John  gives  us  our  final  word  on  sin.    "  Every  one  that  doeth 
sin  doeth  also  lawlessness:    and  sin  is  lawlessness."    Sin  is 

83 


here  placed  before  us  in  its  spirit,  not  in  its  expression.  That 
takes  on  many  forms,  sins,  trespasses,  transgressions,  iniquities, 
all  without  the  man,  all  seen  in  what  he  does.  But  sin  is  lawless- 
ness. It  has  no  regard  to  law.  Its  formal  expression  is  in  dis- 
obedience to  law,  whether  the  law  is  in  words  or  is  written  in 
our  hearts.  ** Whosoever  abideth  in  him  sinneth  not."  The 
lawless  spirit  is  no  more  his.  *' Whosoever  sinneth  hath  not 
seen  him,  neither  knoweth  him."  Here  we  see  the  power  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  Advocate  with  the  Father  (Advocate  *'if 
any  man  sin")  and  the  propitiation  for  our  sins. 

^*He  that  doeth  righteousness  is  righteous,  even  as  he  is 
righteous."  He  has  the  same  spirit  of  obedience  as  Jesus 
Christ  the  Righteous.  He  would  do  the  things  that  please 
God.  "He  that  committeth  sin  is  of  the  devil;  for  the  devil 
sinneth  from  the  beginning."  But  *Ho  this  end  was  the  Son 
of  God  manifested,  that  he  might  destroy  the  works  of  the 
devil."  As  to  sin  this  is  the  message:  **  Whosoever  is  begotten 
of  God  doeth  no  sin,  because  his  seed  abideth  in  him  (the  seed 
planted  by  the  Son  of  God) :  and  he  cannot  sin  because  he  is 
begotten  of  God."  The  life  eternal  has  been  planted  as  a  seed. 
Like  any  seed  it  brings  forth  fruit  after  its  kind.  It  unfolds 
and  grows  till  we  have  the  full-grown  man.  The  seed,  working 
after  the  law  of  its  own  life,  gives  to  the  one  thus  begotten  a 
desire  and  a  will  to  obey  God.  It  rules  within  him  so  that  sin 
which  is  lawlessness  has  no  more  dominion  over  him. 

SIN:  Gen.  4:7,  sin  coucheth  at  the  door;  John  8:34,  committeth  sin 
is  the  bondservant  of  sin;  Jas.  1: 15,  lust,  when  it  hath  conceived, 
beareth  sin;  Rom.  8:7-25,  is  the  law  sin?  had  not  known  sin,  sin 
is  dead,  the  law  of  sin  in  my  members;  14:23,  not  of  faith  is  sin; 
Jas.  4: 17,  to  him  it  is  sin;  John  9:41,  if  blind,  ye  would  have  no 
sin;  15:22,  24,  they  had  not  had  sin;  I  John  3:4-9,  sin  is  lawless- 
ness, sinneth  not,  sin  is  of  the  devil,  cannot  sin;  2: 1,  if  any  man 
sin. 


84 


PROPHECY 

ACCORDING  to  prophecy  and  in  the  opinion  of  all  observ- 
ers, we  are  in  the  midst  of  a  world  crisis.  Men's  hearts  fail 
them  for  fear  as  they  look  out  upon  the  general  world  situation 
and  seek  for  ways  in  which  to  account  for  the  problems  which 
confront  our  generation.  We  believe  that  the  Bible  does  shed 
light  on  these  questions,  and  also  on  what  awaits  humanity  in 
its  onward  course.  The  reader  may  ask  what  bearing  the 
knowledge  of  these  prophecies  has  upon  one's  life  as  a  Christian 
in  the  world.  The  tracing  of  God's  care  and  prevision  in  national 
as  well  as  personal  affairs  all  down  the  centuries  steadies  our 
faith  that  the  times  in  which  we  live  are  in  His  keeping  and  that 
what  remains  to  become  history  will  be  equally  under  His 
guiding  hand. 

The  writer  can  offer  a  personal  testimony  along  this  line 
concerning  the  Book  of  the  Revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,  made 
to  His  servant  John,  which  begins  with  those  words  of  peculiar 
interest,  "Blessed  is  he  that  readeth,  and  they  that  hear  the 
words  of  the  prophecy,  and  keep  the  things  which  are  written 
therein:  for  the  time  is  at  hand."  He  had  read  these  words 
many  times;  he  had  been  to  a  goodly  number  of  prophetic 
conferences  which  were  held  annually  in  Boston,  and  had  heard 
many  men  from  at  home  and  abroad  give  their  views  as  to  what 
the  symbols  of  this  marvel  among  books  signified  as  related  to 
the  future  and  to  the  past;  he  had  read  books  devoted  to  the 
interpretation  of  the  Revelation.  It  remained  for  Dr.  Taylor, 
son  of  the  man  whom  God  raised  up  to  carry  the  Gospel  to 
inland  China,  J.  Hudson  Taylor,  to  give  light  by  which  the 
writer  has  walked  for  these  many  years  as  again  and  again  he 
has  pondered  this  book.  This  was  in  substance  Dr.  Taylor's 
record  of  his  experience. 

As  a  pastor  he  had  not  had  time  to  study  the  book.  At  last 
he  decided  to  go  at  the  matter  systematically  and  thus,  if  pos- 
sible, get  some  settled  views,  endeavoring  also  to  sift  for  himself 

85 


the  varying  and  often  conflicting  views  which  he  had  heard  ex- 
pressed. The  more  he  read  and  studied,  the  more  perplexed 
and  unsettled  he  became,  until  one  day  he  noticed,  as  for  the 
first  time,  the  words,  "and  keep  the  things  which  are  written 
therein."  His  first  thought  was,  "  How  can  I  keep  a  prophecy?  " 
Then  certain  pictures  came  to  his  recollection,  such  as  "These 
are  they  which  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  he  goeth."  He 
said,  "I  can  do  that,  or  strive  to  do  it."  He  began  to  read  this 
book,  which  had  so  puzzled  him,  with  this  one  thought  in  mind, 
and  found  such  comfort  and  blessing  in  keeping  the  words  of 
the  prophecy  that  it  had  been  since  that  day  a  personal  expe- 
rience made  true  to  him.  The  writer  has  followed  Dr.  Taylor's 
method  and  had  a  similar  experience  with  regard  to  this  book 
of  prophecy. 

Before  we  turn  to  specific  prophecies  it  is  well  to  give  a  mo- 
ment's consideration  to  the  general  subject.  Prophecy,  as  it 
appears  in  the  Bible,  has  two  salient  and  outstanding  marks. 
On  the  one  hand  it  is  for  instruction  in  righteousness;  on  the 
other  hand  it  is  essentially  predictive.  In  the  teaching  of  all 
those  who  from  Moses  to  Malachi  were  called  of  God  to  be 
His  spokesmen,  either  to  their  own  times  or  to  all  times,  prom- 
ises and  warnings  are  set  side  by  side.  The  promises  are  to 
obedience  and  are  to  be  fulfilled  in  the  present  and  future  or  in 
both.  With  the  admonitions  are  equally  joined  warnings  con- 
cerning what  will  follow  if  the  hearers  depart  from  the  ways  in 
which  they  are  urged  to  walk.  "I  will  put  upon  you  all  the  evil 
diseases  of  Egypt,"  said  Jehovah  to  Israel,  this  evil  or  judgment 
being  a  positive  infliction  for  disobedience.  The  present  and 
future  are  in  the  warnings.  The  predictive  element  goes  with 
the  call  to  obey. 


86 


A  TIME,  TIMES,  AND  HALF  A  TIME 

WITH  the  study  of  this  phrase  and  others  like  it  we  come 
into  the  realm  of  Biblical  time  prophecies.  There  is  a 
goodly  number  of  these  time  prophecies  where  the  time  element 
is  put  into  so  many  actual  years,  as  when  Jehovah  said  to  Abram 
that  his  seed  should  be  in  bondage  four  hundred  years  (Gen. 
15:13),  or  Israel  was  told  that  it  would  be  left  forty  years  in 
the  wilderness  (Num.  14:33),  or  when  it  was  said  of  Ephraim, 
''Within  threescore  and  five  years  shall  Ephraim  be  broken  in 
pieces,  that  it  be  not  a  people"  (Isa.  7:8).  All  these  are  time 
prophecies  which  have  been  fulfilled  in  history  in  the  exact 
periods  of  years  predicted.  Ephraim  was  the  ten  tribes  that 
revolted  from  Judah,  known  to  us  as  "the  ten  lost  tribes.'* 
Judah  remained  a  kingdom,  but  Israel  was  never  again  a 
people. 

But  beside  such  prophecies  as  these  there  are  those  that  are 
veiled,  notably  the  one  that  most  concerns  us  and  our  day, 
since  we  live  near  its  completion,  a  duration  which  is  hidden 
away  in  the  word  a  time,  times,  and  half  a  time,  as  found  first  in 
DanieFs  prophecy  and  then  repeated  in  the  Revelation.  With 
it  go  prophecies  of  ''days"  and  "months"  and  "years"  which 
make  as  elements  of  a  veiled  revelation  an  interesting  time 
study.  Can  we  determine  the  meaning  of  this  phrase,  calling 
upon  the  Bible  to  be  its  own  interpreter  and  summoning  history 
to  our  aid  to  verify  our  conclusions?  For  the  BibUcal  test  of  a 
true  prophet  was  that  history  should  verify  and  prove  his  words. 

All  discussion  of  time  prophecies  must  begin  with  the  words 
of  Jesus  as  He  opens  His  ministry  (Mark  1:15),  "The  tim^  is 
fulfilled,  and  the  kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand:  repent  ye,  and 
believe  in  the  gospel."  Here  Jesus  laid  His  hand  on  the  clock 
of  time  and  said,  "the  time  is  fulfilled."  What  time  was  ful- 
filled? A  prediction  of  Daniel  that  the  Messiah  would  come  in 
seventy  weeks  and  be  cut  off  in  the  seventieth  week  (Dan.  9:24- 

87 


26).  It  was  this  prophecy  that  had  raised  to  the  highest  point 
the  expectation  of  the  Jews  that  they  were  soon  to  be  delivered 
not  only  from  the  yoke  of  Rome,  but  also  from  that  of  any 
foreign  power.  As  their  leaders  had  interpreted  this  seventy 
weeks,  each  day  stood  for  a  year,  as  in  the  warning  of  Moses 
each  of  his  forty  days  stood  for  a  year  in  the  wilderness; 
seventy  weeks  would  stand  for  four  hundred  and  ninety  years. 
Jesus  laid  His  hand  upon  it  and  said,  *'The  time  is  fulfilled.'* 
This  was  what  Simeon  was  waiting  for.  *'It  had  been  revealed 
unto  him  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  he  should  not  see  death,  be- 
fore he  had  seen  the  Lord's  Christ"  (Luke  2:26).  He  saw  him 
in  Jesus.  In  confirming  this  prophecy  as  applying  to  His  own 
coming,  Jesus  had  indicated  that  the  "year-day"  interpretation 
was  correct  in  this  instance,  the  four  hundred  and  ninety  years 
dating  back  to  a  point  in  the  period  of  the  Babylonian  cap- 
tivities. 

We  have  then  the  "year-day"  suggestion  to  carry  over  into 
our  study  of  other  time  prophecies.  There  is  one  thing  to  be 
noted  before  our  reckoning  as  to  times  begins.  The  sacred  year 
of  the  Jews  was  lunar,  for  the  intervals  between  the  feasts  and 
fasts  of  the  Levitical  calendar  were  all  lunar.  But  the  Jews  also 
used  a  longer  tropical  year,  as  did  the  Babylonians.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  two  modes  of  reckoning  would  make  in  a  long 
interval  of  time  an  added  number  of  years.  So  that  all  time 
reckonings,  even  starting  from  the  same  date,  might  end  at 
different  times  within  a  limited  range  of  years.  This,  however, 
is  not  material  to  this  study,  as  exact  dates  are  not  sought. 
It  only  shows  us  how  they  might  vary  and  why  writers  on  these 
subjects  always  allow  a  margin  of  years,  for  "the  great  chro- 
nometer provided  by  God  for  men  marks  off  by  its  different  rev- 
olutions years  of  three  different  lengths,  one  measured  by  the 
sun,  one  by  the  moon,  and  one  by  the  conjoint  movements  of 
both  orbs,  so  that  we  have  the  calendar  year  (360  days),  the 
lunar  (354  days),  and  the  solar  year  (365  days)." 

Messiah  the  Prince  was  to  be  cut  off  in  the  midst  of  the  sev- 
entieth week  of  the  prophecy  referred  to  by  Jesus  when  He 

88 


said,  "The  time  is  fulfilled.'^  This  became  history  at  the  cruci- 
fixion. It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  prophecy  was  fulfilled 
on  both  lunar  and  solar  systems  of  reckoning,  dating  from  two 
restoration  decrees  issued  by  Artaxerxes,  the  one  associated 
with  Ezra,  the  other  with  Nehemiah,  the  latter  more  specifi- 
cally conforming  to  the  conditions  of  the  prophecy.  The  first, 
given  in  B.C.  457,  makes  the  four  hundred  and  ninety  years  run 
out  in  A.D.  34;  the  second,  a.d.  32-33.  The  Messiah  was  to  be 
cut  off  in  the  midst  of  the  seventieth  week.  History  shows  that 
from  the  month  of  Nehemiah's  departure  for  Jerusalem,  b.c. 
444,  to  the  Passover  season  at  which  Our  Lord  was  crucified, 
A.D.  29,  was  exactly  four  hundred  and  eighty-six  and  a  half 
lunar  years.  In  the  acceptance  by  Our  Lord  of  this  prophecy 
it  becomes  one  of  many  interesting  coincidences. 

Once  more,  near  the  end  of  His  ministry,  Jesus  laid  His  hand 
upon  the  clock  of  prophetic  and  historic  time.  He  had  told  the 
disciples  that  Jerusalem  should  be  compassed  with  armies  and 
had  warned  them  to  leave  the  city,  "for  these  are  the  days  of 
vengeance,  that  all  things  which  are  written  may  be  fulfilled. 
.  .  .  And  Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles,  until 
the  times  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled "  (Luke  21 : 24).  What  did 
Jesus  mean  by  the  tim^s  of  the  Gentiles?  Gentile  world  rule. 
From  the  days  when  the  Roman  armies  compassed  and  cap- 
tured Jerusalem  until  to-day,  Jerusalem  has  been  trodden  under 
foot  of  the  Gentiles.  On  the  site  of  the  temple  there  stands  a 
Mohammedan  mosque;  Turks  hold  the  holy  city.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  we  are  living  in  the  times  of  the  Gentiles,  though,  as 
we  see  how  the  Jew  is  coming  to  be  recognized  by  the  laws  of 
nations  as  having  the  same  rights  as  other  men,  we  can  antici- 
pate a  time  in  the  not  far  distant  future  when  it  might  be  said 
that  Jerusalem  was  no  longer  trodden  under  foot  of  men.  Our 
present  interest  is,  however,  in  the  relation  of  the  words  of 
Jesus  to  the  tim^,  times,  and  half  a  tim£  of  Daniel  and  Revela- 
tion. For  this  we  must  turn  back  to  these  and  accompanying 
prophecies. 

Gentile  world  rule,  as  we  take  the  Bible  for  our  guide,  begins 


with  the  rule  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  His  reign  began  in  b.c.  605-6; 
the  final  destruction  of  Jerusalem  was  in  b.c.  587,  nineteen  years 
later.  To  this  monarch  Daniel  says,  as  he  interprets  his  dream 
concerning  the  image  which  he  has  seen,  "Thou  art  the  head  of 
gold."  This  fixes  the  identity  of  the  first  world-ruHng  power, 
Babylon.  "After  thee,"  continues  Daniel  in  his  interpretation, 
"shall  arise  another  kingdom  inferior  to  thee;  and  another 
third  kingdom  of  brass  which  shall  bear  rule  over  all  the  earth." 
These  two  are  usually  interpreted  as  the  kingdom  of  the  Medes 
and  Persians  and  that  of  the  Greeks.  Then  follows  (Dan.  2) 
a  vivid  description  of  the  fourth  kingdom  with  its  strength, 
"strong  as  iron,"  and  its  weakness,  "iron  and  clay  mingled  in 
its  feet."  This  kingdom  is  interpreted  to  be  that  of  Rome,  char- 
acterized in  many  interpretations  not  only  as  pagan  Rome,  but 
also  as  the  Roman  Empire  as  it  divided  into  two  Empires, 
Western  and  Eastern,  one  with  its  capital  at  Rome,  the  other 
at  Constantinople,  and  into  the  ten  or  more  powers  of  modern 
Europe  which  have  stood  until  our  own  day.  After  this  there 
is  a  glorious  picture  of  the  kingdom  which  was  to  come,  to  be 
set  up  by  God  in  heaven,  never  to  be  destroyed,  never  to  end. 
"As  a  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  hands,"  this  king- 
dom would  break  in  pieces  and  supersede  them  all. 

Parallel,  as  it  seems,  to  this  vision  comes  the  dream  of  Daniel, 
recorded  in  the  seventh  chapter,  in  which  he  saw  the  four  beasts, 
the  first  three  interpreted  again  as  Babylon,  Medo-Persia,  and 
Greece,  and  a  fourth  beast,  representing  a  fourth  kingdom 
which  should  devour  the  whole  earth,  tread  it  down,  and  break 
it  in  pieces.  This  is  ascribed  by  prophetic  writers  to  Rome.  But 
the  prophecy  goes  further.  As  the  image  of  Nebuchadnezzar^s 
vision  had  ten  toes,  part  of  clay  and  part  of  iron,  the  fourth 
beast  has  ten  horns,  commonly  interpreted,  as  we  have  said,  as 
the  ten  kingdoms  into  which  the  Romaij  Empire  broke  up.  But 
while  Daniel  considered  these  horns,  another,  a  little  one,  came 
up.  In  this  horn  were  "  eyes  like  the  eyes  of  a  man,  and  a  mouth 
speaking  great  things."  This  horn  was  for  a  king  or  kingdom 
"diverse  from  the  former,"  which  should  "speak  words  against 

90 


the  Most  High,  and  wear  out  the  saints  of  the  Most  High." 
He  should  ''think  to  change  the  times  and  the  law;  and  they 
shall  be  given  into  his  hand  until  a  time  and  times  and  a  half  a 
tim£.'*  Here  we  have  the  tim£,  tim^s,  and  half  a  time  of  our 
present  study.  We  come  to  a  series  of  prophecies  which  have 
now,  in  large  measure  at  least,  become  history,  under  these 
words  and  their  parallels  of  "forty-two  months"  and  ''twelve 
hundred  and  sixty  days."  They  profoundly  concern  us  and 
should  be  given  by  all  thoughtful  persons  some  measure  of  the 
attention  which  has  been  given  them  by  students  of  prophetic 
predictions.  Daniel  came  to  his  prophetic  utterances  as  he  set 
himself  to  study  the  time  predictions  of  the  prophet  Jeremiah 
as  to  the  duration  of  the  captivity  of  Israel  in  Babylon.  It  was 
as  he  prayed  and  confessed  the  sins  of  his  people,  convinced 
that  the  hour  of  their  deliverance  was  at  hand,  that  the  visions 
came  to  him  which  have  been  so  strikingly  fulfilled.  Some  things 
were  sealed  to  him;  others  were  opened.  It  is  only  by  reading 
the  marvellous  words  of  the  Bible  itself  that  we  can  see  in  out- 
line and  hold  in  memory  and  imagination  the  events  described, 
but  as  a  setting  for  each  of  the  passages  where  the  words  we 
are  discussing  appear,  we  quote  briefly. 

Following  the  rule  of  this  fourth  beast  as  a  single  power 
comes  this  diverse  rule,  represented  by  horns,  and  especially  by 
this  one  which  shall  spring  up  and  be  given  power  for  a  time  and 
times  and  half  a  time.  What  follows?  "They  shall  take  away 
his  dominion  to  consume  and  destroy  it  unto  the  end.  And 
the  kingdom  and  the  dominion,  and  the  greatness  of  the  king- 
doms under  the  whole  heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the  people  of 
the  saints  of  the  Most  High:  his  kingdom  is  an  everlasting  king- 
dom, and  all  nations  shall  serve  and  obey  him."  Earlier  in  the 
same  chapter  we  read  concerning  this  same  fourth  beast  that 
Daniel  beheld  it  "till  thrones  were  placed,  and  one  that  was 
ancient  of  days  did  sit."  He  beheld  till  the  beast  was  slain,  and 
he  saw  in  the  night  visions,  and  there  came  "with  the  clouds 
of  heaven  one  like  unto  a  son  of  man,  and  he  came  even  to  the 
ancient  of  days,"  and  there  was  given  to  him  an  everlasting 

91 


kingdom.  As  we  read  these  words  we  see  at  once  that  this  "di- 
verse kingdom '^  is  neither  that  of  Babylon,  the  Medes  and 
Persians,  the  Greeks,  or  pagan  Rome.  It  has  sprung  up  and 
comes  into  view  as  between  the  fourth  world  power  and  the 
fifth  or  universal  world  power  and  dominion  that  has  no  end. 
There  were  to  be  no  more  world  kingdoms  like  those  seen  by 
Daniel  as  the  four  beasts,  but  here  was  an  attempt  to  establish 
a  rule  over  all  the  earth  that  has  been  given  to  the  Son  of  Man 
and  the  saints.  This  rule  was  to  last,  as  we  understand  it,  a 
time,  times,  and  half  a  tim£.  Once  again  in  the  Book  of  Daniel 
this  phrase  is  used  when  in  the  last  chapter  a  time  of  trouble 
is  foreseen,  "such  as  never  was  since  there  was  a  nation  even  to 
that  same  time,"  and  Daniel,  asking  concerning  the  end  of  these 
wonders,  was  told  it  shall  be  for  "a  time,  times,  and  half  a  time, 
and  when  they  have  made  an  end  of  breaking  in  pieces  the  power  of 
the  holy  people,  all  these  things  shall  be  finished."  This  is  the 
contribution  of  the  Book  of  Daniel  concerning  this  period,  which 
is  mentioned  seven  times  in  prophecy,  twice  here  and  five  times 
in  the  Revelation,  and  which  assumes  vital  interest  to  us  if  we 
find  that  history  shows  such  a  period,  and  that  we  may  be  living 
not  only  in  it,  but  near  its  conclusion. 

Let  us  turn  to  the  Revelation  and  group  the  descriptions  where 
we  find  this  same  measure  or  its  plain  prophetic  equivalent. 
They  are  found  in  the  eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  chap- 
ters of  the  Revelation  which  God  gave  to  Jesus  Christ  that  He 
might  show  unto  His  servants  the  things  which  must  shortly 
come  to  pass,  the  same  Jesus  Christ  who  had  said  that  Jerusa- 
lem should  be  trodden  under  foot  until  the  times  of  the  Gentiles 
were  fulfilled.  The  times  of  the  Gentiles  had  begun  with  Gentile 
world  rule.  When  were  they  to  end?  St.  John  was  told  that 
he  must  "prophesy  again  over  many  peoples  and  nations  and 
tongues  and  kings,"  and  there  was  given  to  him  a  reed  (Rev.  11), 
and  he  was  told  to  measure  the  temple  and  the  altar,  and  those 
that  worshipped  therein;  but  to  leave  the  court  without  the 
temple,  and  measure  it  not,  "for  it  hath  been  given  unto  the 
Gentiles  [nations] :  and  the  holy  city  shall  they  tread  under  foot 

92 


forty  and  two  months ^  (The  court  of  the  temple  was  always  for 
Gentiles;  the  nations  in  Scripture  were  called  the  Gentiles.  So 
here  we  have  the  two  renderings,  one  in  the  Authorized,  the 
other  in  the  Revised  version.)  The  Gentiles,  the  nations,  were 
to  tread  the  holy  city  under  foot  for  forty-two  months.  We  read 
on,  in  the  next  verse,  "And  I  will  give  unto  my  two  witnesses, 
and  they  shall  prophesy  a  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore 
days,  clothed  in  sackcloth."  Forty-two  months  is  twelve  hundred 
and  sixty  days.  Has  there  been  a  time  since  Rome  (pagan) 
ruled  the  world  when  the  followers  of  Jesus  Christ  have  held 
steadily  to  their  testimony,  but  have  been  clothed  with  the 
garments  of  mourning?  Has  it  been  a  set  time,  not  set  to  a  day 
or  an  hour  or  a  year,  but  a  period  of  time  that  is  marked  out  in 
history,  a  part  of  the  record  of  the  last  nineteen  hundred  years? 
For  this  kingdom  of  heaven  was  ushered  in  with  power  during 
the  lives  of  the  first  disciples  of  Jesus  the  Christ.  "The  time 
is  fulfilled;  the  kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand,"  said  Jesus,  and  all 
history  had  borne  witness  to  His  words. 

We  turn  to  the  twelfth  chapter  of  the  Revelation  and  read  of 
a  great  sign  seen  in  heaven,  a  woman  arrayed  with  the  sun,  the 
moon  under  her  feet,  and  she  was  with  child.  There  was  another 
sign,  a  dragon  with  seven  heads  and  ten  horns.  The  woman  in 
prophecy  is  always  the  church.  The  dragon  stood  before  the 
woman,  that  when  she  was  delivered  he  might  devour  her  child, 
for  when  born  he  was  to  be  "a  son,  a  man  child,  who  was  to  rule 
all  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron."  When  she  was  delivered  the 
child  was  caught  up  unto  God  and  unto  His  throne.  The 
woman  fled  into  the  wilderness,  "where  she  hath  a  place  pre- 
pared of  God,  that  there  they  may  nourish  her  a  thousand  two 
hundred  and  threescore  days.^'  Once  more  the  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  days  which  we  are  soon  to  connect  with  the  phrase  of  our 
study.  As  we  read  on  there  is  war  in  heaven,  Michael  and  his 
angels  going  forth  to  war  with  the  dragon  and  his  angels.  The 
dragon  prevailed  not  and  was  cast  down  to  earth,  "the  old  ser- 
pent," it  adds,  "he  that  is  called  the  Devil  and  Satan,  the  de- 
ceiver of  the  whole  world."     A  great  voice  is  heard  saying, 

93 


''Now  is  come  the  salvation,  and  the  power,  and  the  kingdom 
of  our  God,  and  the  authority  of  his  Christ."  The  dragon  in 
great  wrath,  knowing  that  "his  time  was  short,"  persecuted  the 
woman  which  had  brought  forth  the  man  child.  To  her  were 
given  the  two  wings  of  the  eagle,  "that  she  might  fly  into  the 
wilderness  unto  her  place,  where  she  is  nourished  for  a  timef 
and  times,  and  half  a  time,  from  the  face  of  the  serpent." 

The  woman  was  to  be  in  the  wilderness  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  days;  she  was  to  be  there,  by  this  second  account  of  the 
same  event,  a  time,  times,  and  half  a  time.  The  two  are  evidently 
the  same  period,  and  we  have  our  time,  times,  and  half  a  time  de- 
fined in  Bible  terms.  The  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days  was  by 
actual  computation  equal  to  the  forty-two  months,  during  which 
the  holy  city  was  to  be  trodden  under  foot.  Forty-two  literal 
months  (lunar)  equals  three  and  a  half  years  (lunar).  A  time  is, 
therefore,  here  as  elsewhere  in  prophecy,  a  year  of  three  hundred 
and  sixty  days;  times  stands  for  two  years;  half  a  time  for  one 
hundred  and  eighty  days,  the  total  being  a  prophetic  period  of 
twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days,  each  day  standing  for  a  year. 
The  time  period  for  these  events  is  measured,  as  we  should  ex- 
pect it  would  be,  after  the  pattern  of  the  seventy  weeks  of 
Daniel's  prophecy  as  to  the  coming  of  the  long-looked-for 
Messiah. 

Once  more  this  period  occurs  in  prophecy,  in  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  Revelation,  immediately  following,  when  the  beast 
(world  power)  comes  up  out  of  the  sea,  having  ten  horns  and 
seven  heads.  "And  the  dragon  gave  him  his  power,  and  his 
throne,  and  great  authority."  In  the  midst  of  a  portrayal  that 
carries  us  back  to  the  imagery  of  Daniel,  "the  mouth  of  the 
beast  speaking  great  things,"  we  read,  "And  there  was  given 
unto  him  authority  to  continue  [to  do  his  works  during]  forty 
and  two  months.^*  This  is  the  seventh  and  last  reference  to 
this  period  of  prophetic  time. 

What  do  these  seven  utterances  contribute  towards  our 
understanding  of  this  time,  times,  and  half  a  time  f  They  mark 
its  length,  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years,  lunar,  solar,  or 

94 


calendar;  they  mark  its  end  as  coincident  with  that  of  the  end 
of  the  times  of  the  Gentiles,  during  which  the  holy  city  is 
trodden  under  foot;  they  describe  it  as  following  on  and  grow- 
ing out  of  the  rule  of  the  fourth  beast  of  Daniel's  vision,  which 
is  interpreted  as  Rome  (pagan) ;  they  describe  it  as  coincident 
with  a  period  of  trials  of  the  saints  and  of  the  church.  When 
did  this  period  begin,  we  ask,  and  when  will  it  end?  To  our 
thought  concerning  this,  one  other  group  of  Bible  passages  makes 
contribution. 

Our  Study  has  now  covered  more  than  twenty-five  centuries 
of  history  in  prophetic  time  terms,  for  we  began  with  Gentile 
world  rule  in  B.C.  605-6,  and  we  live  in  the  twentieth  century. 
Our  particular  phrase  time,  tim^s,  and  half  a  tim^  proves  to  cover 
only  from  twelve  to  thirteen  centuries;  but  the  tim£s  of  the  Gen- 
tiles which  end  with  the  end  of  the  special  period  under  discussion 
have  run  historically  more  than  twenty-five  centuries.  Is  there 
any  Bible  ground  for  that  length  of  time  prophetically?  We 
find  that  there  is,  in  the  use  of  the  word  tim^s.  The  Bible  calen- 
dar moves  steadily  in  sevens,  as  any  reader  of  Bible  history 
and  of  the  Levitical  law  well  knows.  The  week  of  days  was  set 
in  the  Creation;  the  week  of  weeks  (Lev.  23)  measured  in  the 
Jewish  year  the  time  between  Passover  and  Pentecost;  the 
week  of  months  (Lev.  23)  measured  the  Jewish  year,  whose  fes- 
tivals occurred  in  the  first  seven  months  of  the  year;  the  week 
of  years  led  to  the  sabbatic  year;  the  week  of  weeks  of  years 
carried  on  forty-nine  years  to  the  fiftieth  year,  the  year  of 
jubilee.  The  week  of  decades  is  used  prophetically  by  Jeremiah 
concerning  the  period  of  captivity  m  Babylon  (seventy  years). 
We  have  seen  the  week  of  weeks  of  years  (four  hundred  and 
ninety  years)  used  in  the  prophecy  concerning  the  coming  of  the 
Messiah.  In  each  case  the  "week"  is  the  Hebrew  word  seven. 
In  a  remarkable  chapter  in  Leviticus  promises  to  the  chosen 
people  are  rehearsed,  and  solemn  warnings  are  given  as  to  what 
will  follow  not  heeding  the  word  of  Jehovah  (Lev.  26: 18,  21,  24, 
28).  "If  ye  will  not,  I  will  chastise  you  seven  tim£s  for  your 
sins''  is  the  phrase  repeated  over  and  over  again.    They  are  to 

95 


perish  among  the  nations,  and  the  land  of  their  enemies  shall 
eat  them  up,  as  the  picture  goes  on  of  the  ills  which  will  come 
upon  them.  It  is  a  strangely  interesting  fact  that,  by  prophetic 
Bible  chronology  (as  we  have  developed  it  here,  and  as  it  works 
out  more  fully  in  the  writings  of  prophetic  students),  the  seven 
times  might  be  thought  to  point  to  a  period  of  a  week,  each  of 
whose  days  is  a  year  of  years  or  three  hundred  and  sixty  years, 
the  whole  being,  therefore,  seven  times  three  hundred  and  sixty 
or  twenty-five  hundred  and  twenty  years.  There  is  neither 
space  nor  reason  here  for  entering  into  this  more  in  detail.  Note 
simply  that  the  period  of  our  time,  times,  and  half  a  time  is 
twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years,  which  is  half  of  twenty-five 
hundred  and  twenty  years.  Note  also  that  it  is  now  historically 
true  that  the  covenant  people  have  been  under  the  Gentile 
harrow  for  this  length  of  time,  for  from  the  reign  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar to  a  time  in  the  comparatively  near  future  is  approxi- 
mately twenty-five  to  twenty-six  hundred  years,  allowing  for 
the  variation  of  limar  and  solar  reckoning. 

See  how  it  all  fits  together,  and  we  have  a  glimpse  of  a  mar- 
vellous prophetic  chronology,  revealing  in  some  measure  the 
''times  and  seasons''  set  by  the  Father.  The  times  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, corresponding  to  the  seven  times  of  Levitical  prophecy, 
give  an  extent  of  twenty-five  to  twenty-six  hundred  years,  which, 
if  dating  as  it  must  from  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  Gentile 
world  rule,  will  end  in  the  comparatively  near  future.  Within 
the  last  half  of  this  time  comes  the  period  of  our  special  study, 
proving  to  be  a  period  of  forty-two  months,  or  twelve  hundred 
and  sixty  days,  interpreted  on  the  year-day  suggestion  to  be 
twelve  or  thirteen  centuries,  during  which  certain  world  events 
will  come  to  pass.  Its  end  is  coincident  with  the  end  of  the 
times  of  the  Gentiles.  From  the  accuracy  with  which  the  earlier 
prophecies  were  fulfilled  in  Babylon,  Medo-Persia,  and  Greece, 
we  reckon  the  fourth  beast  or  kingdom  to  have  been  Rome, 
the  last  world-power  of  history.  The  time,  times,  and  half  a  time 
begins  with  the  emergence  from  this  power,  which  has  broken 
up  into  ten  kingdoms,  of  another  power,  small,  different,  yet 

96 


becoming  great  and  powerful.  The  time,  times,  and  half  a  tims 
must  date  historically  from  the  fall  of  the  fourth  great  united 
power  and  the  beginning  of  this  last  power.  Other  passages, 
throwing  further  light  on  this  period,  suggest  two  great  apos- 
tasies in  this  period,  conforming  to  two  horns  of  prophecy.  We 
enter  here,  however,  the  region  of  prophecy  so  closely  related 
to  our  own  times  that,  as  in  all  such  cases,  it  becomes  a  matter 
of  controversy. 

Of  this  much  we  may  feel  confident.  To  answer  historically 
to  this  prophetic  outlook  there  should  be  in  history  three  great 
historic  streams  flowing  in  parallel  lines :  the  one,  for  the  Jews, 
dating  from  the  period  of  the  captivities  and  looking  towards 
their  gradual  freedom  from  persecution;  the  other  two  for  the 
church  of  God,  involving  two  persecuting  powers,  controlling 
what  was  the  Roman  world,  one  in  the  East  and  one  in  the  West, 
both  beginning  at  about  the  same  time,  and  both  losing  at  nearly 
or  quite  the  same  era  their  power  to  persecute  and  war  upon 
God's  people.  There  are  in  history  but  two  powers  that  answer 
to  these  prophetic  demands,  the  Papacy  (considered  in  such 
study  on  the  side  of  its  temporal  power)  and  Islam,  the  Moham- 
medan rule,  in  its  same  political  and  persecuting  power.  The 
two  do  rise  at  about  the  same  period  (see  dates  below);  they 
have  both  begun  to  wane  in  recent  times,  about  twelve  to  thirteen 
centuries  from  the  probable  dates  or  inclusive  periods  of  their 
inception  in  the  sixth  or  seventh  centuries,  the  Papal  through 
the  establishment  of  the  Italian  kingdom  and  other  events  which 
will  readily  occur  to  the  reader,  the  Mohammedan  through  its 
loss  by  international  requirements  and  obligations  of  its  power 
to  persecute.  As  we  see  these  two  great  forces  of  mediaeval  and 
modern  history  waning,  and  the  right  of  the  Jews  to  be  treated 
as  are  other  peoples  irnder  all  national  governments  increas- 
ingly recognized,  may  we  not  feel  that  we  are  living  in  wonderful 
times,  and  that  the  Bible  picture  and  the  Bible  chronology  of 
these  times,  while  not  specific  as  to  our  own  generation,  does 
point  with  unmistakable  definiteness  to  our  period  in  the  cycle 
of  centuries? 

97 


DATES  AND  PERIODS  COLLECTED  FROM 
PROPHETIC  WRITERS 

SEVENTY  WEEKS:  490  years,  b.c.  457-a.d.  34  (solar);  b.c.  444- 
A.D.  32-33  (lunar). 

SEVEN  TIMES,  the  TIMES  of  the  Gentiles:  2520  (2x  1260)  years, 
beginning  with  the  captivities  of  Judah,  which  covers  a  period  of 
160  years,  b.c.  747-587.  To  this  add  (Dan.  12:11,  12)  a  possible 
75  years,  30  +  45.  2520  solar  years  also  exceed  2520  lunar  years 
by  75  solar  years.  By  lunar  time,  from  b.c.  747  to  587,  2520  years 
bring  us  to  a.d.  1699-1859,  both  crisis  years  in  the  history  of  re- 
ligious] toleration;  by  solar  time,  they  bring  us  to  a.d.  1774,  the 
year  of  the  accession  of  Louis  XVI,  followed  by  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, to  1934.  From  B.C.  605-6, 2520  years  brings  us  by  solar  reck- 
oning to  1840,  by  calendar  to  1878-79,  both  important  in  Papal 
history,  the  latter  because  of  the  death  of  the  last  pope  wielding 
temporal  power,  and  by  lunar  to  1915.  Adding  the  30  and  45  sug- 
gested years  gives  the  date  of  1804,  of  the  coronation  of  Napoleon 
as  emperor,  and  1849,  a  year  of  terrible  European  revolution.  It 
is  the  thought  of  H.  Grattan  Guinness,  who  worked  out  this  par- 
ticular study  thirty  and  more  years  ago,  that  all  these  dates  are  likely 
to  prove  crisis  years  in  a  period  of  conclusion.  For  our  interest  we 
find  1917,  1923,  and  1934  also  reckoned  as  significant. 

A  TIME,  TIMES,  AND  HALF  A  TIME:  1260  years,  one  half  of 
2520  years,  which  dated  from  b.c.  747  to  587.  B.C.  747  to  a.d.  476  = 
1260  lunar  years:  B.C.  587  to  a.d.  476=  1260  solar  years;  b.c.  587 
to  A.D.  637  =  1260  lunar  years.  The  year  a.d.  476  marked  the  end 
of  the  Roman  Empire;  the  year  a.d.  637  the  capture  of  Jerusalem 
by  the  Saracens.  Dates  from  476,  or  more  commonly  from  533  to 
663,  including  in  590  the  accession  of  Gregory  the  Great  and  marked 
by  decrees  estabUshing  the  temporal  power  of  the  Papacy,  are  usu- 
ally given  as  the  beginning  of  this  time,  times,  and  half  a  time, 
including  as  they  do  the  announcement  by  Mohammed  of  his 
mission,  a.d.  610  and  his  Hejira,  a.d.  622.  On  the  longest  reckon- 
ings the  1260  years  carry  to  1867-70,  the  period  marking  the  end  of 
the  temporal  power  of  the  Papacy,  and  to  1923. 

98 


THE  SON  OF  MAN,  THE 
THOUSAND  YEARS 

THE  name  Son  of  Man,  first  given  by  Jesus  to  Himself 
when  He  talked  with  Nicodemus,  is  constantly  applied 
by  Him  to  Himself,  as  when  the  high  priest  said  to  Him,  "Art 
thou  the  Christ,  the  son  of  the  blessed?"  Jesus  said,  ''I  am:  and 
ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  power, 
and  coming  with  the  clouds  of  heaven."  A  common  and  right- 
ful thought  concerning  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  Man  is  of  His  kin- 
ship with  our  humanity.  We  think  of  His  compassion  as  He 
looked  on  the  multitudes,  who  had  been  with  Him  all  day  and 
were  hungry,  and  fed  them.  We  recall  His  love  for  children. 
His  deeds  of  kindness.  His  human  fellowships,  and  our  hearts 
warm  to  Him  who  was  the  lover  of  humanity.  This  is  well, 
but  this  study  approaches  the  name  as  one  of  authority  and 
rule  and  dominion,  who  could  feed  five  thousand  people  with 
five  loaves  and  two  fishes,  who  could  turn  water  into  wine  at  a 
marriage  feast,  who  said  to  the  man  who  was  healed,  *'  Thy  sins 
are  forgiven  thee,"  even  as  He  had  said,  "Take  up  thy  bed  and 
walk,"  of  one  who  did  wonders  and  signs,  and  who  spoke  of 
Himself  prophetically  as  to  come  as  the  judge  of  the  nations. 
This  is  the  prophetic  thought  of  the  Son  of  Man,  who  was 
given  in  Daniel's  vision  an  unending  dominion  over  all  the  earth. 
Between  the  announcement  by  the  Ancient  of  Days  and  the 
entering  by  the  Son  of  Man  upon  His  reign  with  His  saints.  His 
kingdom,  the  kingdom  of  God,  had  been  set  up.  But  the  subjects 
of  that  kingdom  were  to  be  tested,  as  Israel  had  been  tested. 
This  testing  was  to  last  in  all  its  fury  for  a  long  time  as  we  count 
time,  but  a  short  time  when  measured  by  the  promise  that  the 
kingdom  should  never  end.  Have  we  entered  upon  that  era  now? 
Ten  great  persecutions  by  pagan  Rome  came  in  the  three 
centuries  preceding  the  Edict  of  Constantine  and  Licinius  (a.d. 
313)  "restoring  all  forfeited  civil  and  religious  rights  to  the 
Christians  and  securing  them  full. and  equal  rights  throughout 

99 


the  Roman  Empire."  In  the  light  of  what  was  suffered  in  those 
cruel  days  we  read  anew  the  words  of  Our  Lord  as  He  said  to  the 
disciples,  "The  days  will  come,  when  ye  shall  desire  to  see  one 
of  the  days  of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  ye  shall  not  see  it."  Then 
He  adds  the  words  that  startle  though  they  comfort  us,  "For 
as  the  lightning,  when  it  lighteneth  out  of  the  one  part  under  the 
heaven,  shineth  unto  the  other  part  under  heaven;  so  shall  the 
Son  of  Man  be  in  his  day."  It  will  be  a  day  that  will  be,  not  to 
one  here  and  one  there,  but  to  all.  Then  follows  the  picture  of 
His  own  sufferings,  of  Noah's  days  and  of  Sodom,  and  He  adds, 
"After  the  same  manner  shall  it  be  in  the  day  that  the  Son  of 
Man  is  revealed"  (Luke  17:22-31).  So  it  was  in  the  days  of 
the  great  persecutions;  so  it  was  when  the  "time,  times,  and  half 
a  time  "  of  the  persecutions  by  the  Papacy  and  Mohanunedanism 
were  to  be  ended.  The  judgments  of  God  slowly  gathered  in  the 
sight  of  all  men.  When  they  finally  burst,  as  in  the  time  of 
the  French  Revolution,  or  when  at  last  the  temporal  power  of  the 
Papacy  fell  with  the  entrance  of  Victor  Emmanuel  into  Rome, 
the  world  were  onlookers.  All  men  saw  it,  and  what  would  once 
have  convulsed  all  Europe  provoked  no  remonstrance  even. 
This  has  been  true  of  the  judgments  that  have  been  visited  upon 
the  Turks,  the  guardians  of  the  faith  of  Islam.  The  world  has 
looked  on,  only  hoping  for  a  speedy  end  of  their  power.  The 
world-wide  martyrdom  of  the  saints  of  God  by  legal  right  and 
by  the  support  of  the  nations  has  ended.  The  world  has  seen 
it  pass  as  it  sees  the  lightnings  flash.  The  watchword  of  the 
Son  of  Man  as  He  reigns  with  His  saints  is  evidently  that  nothing 
shall  be  inconspicuous,  there  shall  be  nothing  done  that  cannot 
be  seen  by  all  humanity. 

At  the  end  of  the  persecutions  by  pagan  Rome,  as  prophetic 
students  conmionly  read  it,  when  St.  John  s^w  the  fifth  seal 
opened,  he  saw  "under  the  altar  the  souls  of  them  that  had 
been  slain  for  the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  which  they 
held:  and  they  cried  with  a  great  voice,  saying.  How  long,  O 
Master,  the  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  and  avenge  our 
blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth?"  (Rev.  6).    There  was 

100 


given  to  each  of  them  a  white  robe,  and  it  was  said  that  they 
should  "rest  yet  for  a  little  time,  until  their  fellow-servants 
also  and  their  brethren,  which  should  be  killed  even  as  they  were, 
should  be  fulfilled."  The  nmnber  of  souls  martyred  by  the 
imperial  power  of  pagan  Rome  counted,  historians  tell  us,  into 
the  millions.  A  little  time  passes.  The  seals  are  opened.  Trum- 
pets speak.  The  vials  are  poured  out.  As  the  tragic  scenes 
unfold,  mingled  with  songs  of  victory,  we  come  upon  a  stage  of 
the  dreadful  period  called  prophetically  the  "time,  times,  and 
half  a  time."  The  persecutions  of  pagan  Rome  sink  out  of  sight 
as  we  look  upon  the  slaughter  of  the  saints  by  Papal  and  Mo- 
hammedan powers  as  they  are  recorded  in  history.  Religion 
vanishes.  Humanity  is  lost  sight  of.  The  victims  are  num- 
bered, not  by  millions,  but  by  tens  of  millions.  This  covers 
twelve  centuries.  The  hour  comes  for  all  this  carnival  of  crime 
to  end.  The  nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Revelation  gives  us  a 
wonderful  picture  of  what,  prophetically  announced,  follows; 
in  the  twentieth  chapter  we  come  once  more  to  a  time  prophecy, 
the  thousand  years,  so  often  reverently,  so  often  carelessly  re- 
ferred to  in  our  days,  but  that  for  which  we  all  hope. 

An  angel  comes  down  out  of  heaven.  He  lays  hold  upon 
"the  dragon,  the  old  serpent,  which  is  the  Devil  and  Satan," 
binds  him  for  a  thousand  years,  casts  him  into  the  abyss,  shuts  it, 
and  seals  it  over  him  "that  he  should  deceive  the  nations  no 
more,  until  the  thousand  years  should  be  finished."  This  is  a 
time  prophecy.  Time  in  the  Revelation  has  been,  in  the  his- 
tory of  what  the  nations  had  wrought  under  the  leadership  of 
the  dragon,  a  year  for  a  day.  On  this  basis  we  have  before  us 
freedom  from  "the  old  serpent,  which  is  the  Devil  and  Satan," 
for  three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  of  our  years  of  time. 
With  such  a  period  in  mind  we  can  look  back  to  the  time  when 
Jehovah  proclaimed  His  name  and  gave  the  commandments, 
with  the  familiar  words,  "visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children,  upon  the  third  and  upon  the  fourth  genera- 
tion of  them  that  hate  me;  and  shewing  mercy  unto  thousands 
(of  generations)  of  them  that  love  me  and  keep  my  command- 

101 


ments.'^  In  this  millennium  there  is  time  for  these  thousands  of 
generations  to  be  born,  live,  and  sleep  with  their  fathers.  We 
turn  back  to  the  last  words  of  Jesus  to  the  eleven  in  Galilee 
when  He  said,  "All  authority  hath  been  given  unto  me  in 
heaven  and  on  earth.  .  .  .  Go,  disciple  the  nations.  .  .  .  Lo, 
I  am  with  you  alway."  Remembering  that  the  abyss  holds  the 
deceiver  of  the  nations  for  a  thousand  prophetic  years,  we  gather 
ourselves  together  and  say,  "Here  is  a  work,  and  here  is  time 
for  it  to  be  done.^^  We  repeat  "Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even 
unto  the  consummation  of  the  age.''  This  is  the  work,  the  mis- 
sion of  the  disciples  for  an  age;  the  age  will  witness  its  fulfilment. 
To  what  may  we  look  forward  and  for  what  may  we  hope? 
An  awakening  of  the  living  Church  that  will  send  the  Gospel 
"for  a  witness  to  all  nations''  (Matt.  24:14),  perhaps  within  a 
generation  or  a  century;  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
"convince  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment" 
(John  16:8-11);  a  ministry  such  as  will  come  when  the  gifts  of 
the  Spirit  are  in  exercise  as  they  are  named  by  St.  Paul;  a 
fulfilment  that  shall  be  in  measure  correspondent  to  the  trium- 
phal prophecies  of  Isaiah;  a  recognition  by  the  nations  of  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  that  shall  answer  to  the 
baptizing  of  the  nations  into  these  three  names.  The  parables 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  will  become  reality  as  not  heretofore. 
All  these  things  may  be  looked  for,  since  to  what  has  been  done 
the  invisible  world  will  add  that  which  may  be  done  by  those 
who  once  died  for  Christ,  but  now  live  and  reign  with  Him  and 
are  priests  to  God  and  Christ,  ministering  as  they  alone  can, 
while  Satan  is  bound,  to  the  Church  which  is  His  body  and  the 
world  which  He  has  redeemed. 

SON  OF  MAN:  Dan.  7:13,  Matt.  8:20,  9:6,  10:23, 11:19, 12:8,  32, 
40;  13:37,  41;  16:13,  17:9,  22;  20:18,  24:27,  37,  39,  44;  25:31, 
26:2,  24,  45,  Mark  2:10,  28;  8:38,  9:9,  12,  31;  10:33,  13:26,  34; 
14:21,  41,  Luke  5:24,  6:5,  22;  7:34,  9:22,  26,  44,  56,  58;  11:30, 
12:8,  10,  40;  17:22-26,  18:8,  19:10,  21:27,  36;  22:22,  48;  24:7, 
John  1:51,  3:13,  14;  5:27,  6:27,  53,  62;  8:28,  12:23,  34;  13:31, 
Acts  7:56,  Rev.  1:13,  14:14. 

102 


THE  LAMB  OF  GOD 

THIS  study  turns  at  once  to  the  time  when  John,  the  fore- 
runner of  Jesus,  said,  "Behold,  the  Lamb  of  God,  which 
taketh  away  [beareth]  the  sin  of  the  world."  In  the  use  of 
this  phrase  as  we  apply  it  to  Jesus  we  usually  give  the  lead  to 
the  thought  of  sacrifice,  dwelling  on  such  a  passage  as  that  in 
Isaiah,  read  by  the  eunuch  as  Philip  overtook  him  riding  in  his 
chariot,  ''He  was  led  as  a  sheep  to  the  slaughter;  and  as  a 
lamb  before  his  shearer  is  dumb,  so  he  opened  not  his  mouth. '^ 
This  is  a  picture  of  a  single  hour  of  silence  and  submission  to 
the  will  of  the  Father  as  Jesus  fulfilled  what  all  the  Jewish  system 
of  sacrifices  had  signified  and  annulled  all  these  forms  of  sacri- 
fice, a  picture  of  an  hour  and  an  act  which  points  to  the  giving 
ourselves  to  doing  and  suffering  the  will  of  God. 

But  the  thought  of  helplessness  passed  with  that  hour,  and 
from  that  time  on  the  conception  of  the  Lamb  of  God  is,  in  Scrip- 
ture, as  clothed  with  power.  In  the  First  Epistle  of  St.  Peter  we 
read  of  ourselves  as  redeemed  with  precious  blood,  "as  of  a  lamb 
without  blemish  and  without  spot,  even  the  blood  of  Christ." 
As  John  the  Baptist's  witness  to  the  Lamb  of  God  had  closed 
with  the  words,  "This  is  the  Son  of  God,"  St.  Peter's  testimony 
ends  with  the  name  of  Christ.  Both  of  these  names,  Christ 
and  Son  of  God,  call  our  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  use  of 
the  word  "as"  in  the  three  phrases  quoted  above  indicates 
that  this  was  not  to  be  the  ruling  or  indeed  the  common  thought 
concerning  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  or  beareth  the 
sin  of  the  world. 

What  is  the  sin  of  the  world?  For  a  single  word,  disobedience 
would  properly  characterize  it,  disobedience  to  light  given. 
What  is  to  take  its  place?  Obedience.  The  Lamb  of  God  in 
taking  away  the  sin  of  the  world  takes  away  disobedience;  it 
follows  that  men  everjrwhere  are  to  obey  the  voice  of  God, 
walking  in  the  light  given  by  God's  appointment. 

103 


How  does  the  Revelation  set  before  us  the  Lamb  and  his 
work?  We  are  called  first  to  be  witnesses  of  what  John  saw 
through  an  opened  door,  a  book  written  within  and  on  the 
back,  sealed  with  seven  seals.  A  strong  angel  called  with  a 
great  voice  for  one  who  was  mighty  to  open  the  book.  John  wept 
because  none  was  found  worthy.  As  he  wept  one  of  the  elders 
said,  "Weep  not:  behold,  the  Lion  that  is  of  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
the  Root  of  David,  hath  overcome,  to  open  the  book  and  the 
seven  seals  thereof.'*  And  John  saw  "a  Lamb  standing,  as 
though  it  had  been  slain,"  who  came  and  took  the  book  out  of 
the  right  hand  of  Him  who  sat  on  the  throne.  A  new  song  fol- 
lowed, as  the  living  creatures  and  elders  worshipped,  saying, 
"Worthy  art  thou  to  take  the  book,  and  to  open  the  seals 
thereof.  .  .  .  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  hath  been  slain  to  re- 
ceive the  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  might,  and  honor, 
and  glory,  and  blessing.*' 

What  is  the  book?  The  book  of  the  future.  No  one  can 
read  the  Book  of  the  Revelation  from  the  prefatory  words  in 
which  its  purpose  is  announced  to  the  New  Jerusalem  of  the 
closing  chapter  without  being  sure,  whether  he  knows  about 
its  symbols  and  the  interpretation  thereof  or  not,  that  here  is 
what  is  to  be  history,  the  history  of  the  church  and  of  the  world 
until  its  consummation  in  that  new  order  of  things  which  is 
named  the  "new  heavens  and  new  earth."  No  one  in  heaven 
or  on  earth  or  under  the  earth  was  found  to  open  the  seals  and 
unroll  the  writing,  no  one  but  the  Lamb,  standing  as  though  it 
had  been  slain.  Sacrifice  is  triumphant.  All  heaven  knows  it; 
all  earth  will;  the  imderworld  will.  In  that  indescribable  scene 
pictured  in  the  fourth  chapter,  creation  unites  by  its  repre- 
sentatives in  the  acceptance  of  this  honoring  of  sacrifice. 

As  one  by  one  the  seals  are  opened  we  will  pause  where  the 
Lamb  appears.  As  the  Lamb  opens  one  of  the  seven  seals,  one 
of  the  four  living  creatures  says,  as  with  a  voice  of  thunder, 
"Come."  The  panorama  unrolls,  seal  by  seal.  As  the  sixth  is 
broken  we  hear  the  mighty  ones  of  earth  calling  on  the  mountains 
and  the  rocks  to  fall  on  them  and  hide  them  "from  the  wrath  of 

104 


the  Lamb.^'  We  pass  on  and  behold  "a  great  multitude,  which 
no  man  could  number,  arrayed  in  white  robes,  standing  before 
the  throne  and  before  the  Lamb.  They  cry  with  a  great  voice, 
"Salvation  unto  our  God  which  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  unto 
the  Lamb.*'  There  is  an  answering  chorus  from  the  angels,  the 
elders,  and  the  four  living  creatures.  The  drama  closes  with 
every  tear  wiped  from  their  eyes. 

Later  we  hear  of  those  who  had  overcome  the  Devil  and 
Satan  "because  of  the  blood  of  the  Lam6,"  who  loved  not  their 
life  even  unto  death.  They  had  walked  as  the  Lamb  walked 
when  He  went  up  to  Jerusalem  for  the  last  time.  In  the  thir- 
teenth, fourteenth,  fifteenth,  seventeenth,  and  nineteenth  chap- 
ters the  Lamb  is  again  named,  but  space  does  not  allow  the  doing 
more  than  guiding  the  reader  by  references  at  the  close  of  the 
study.  It  is  well  to  remember  that  all  these  Biblical  references 
in  the  Revelation  are  by  the  same  St.  John  who  recorded  in  his 
Gospel  the  announcement  of  John  the  Baptist  of  the  Lamb  of 
God.  He  was  in  the  Spirit  when  he  saw  and  heard  what  is  re- 
corded in  this  last  book  of  the  Bible.  In  the  closing  chapters  of 
the  book,  in  the  words  written  of  the  Lamb  and  His  bride,  we 
get  to  the  place  where  a  new  era  begins.  By  the  grouping  of 
these  references  the  study  calls  attention,  by  way  of  suggestion, 
to  the  Bible  picture  of  the  Lamb  as  the  name  given  to  the  Son 
of  God,  Jesus  Christ,  whose  is  the  throne  with  all  that  it  carries 
with  it  of  power  and  dominion.  It  was  for  but  one  hour  and 
in  one  act  of  obedience  that  as  the  Lamb  He  was  helpless.  The 
taking  away  of  the  sin  of  the  world,  disobedience,  and  the  bring- 
ing the  world  to  obedience  to  the  will  and  way  of  God  is  to  be 
wrought  out  in  history.  This  is  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures 
as  outlined  for  us  in  the  Revelation. 

THE  LAMB  OF  GOD:  John  1:29,  Isa.  53:7,  Acts  8:32, 1  Pet.  1:19, 
Rev.  5:5-13,  6:1,  16;  7:9-17,  12:11,  13:8;  14:1,  4;  15:3,  17:14, 
19:7,9;  21:14,  22,23;  22:1,3. 


105 


NATIONAL  RIGHTEOUSNESS 

THE  Bible  is  concerned  with  nations  as  well  as  with  individ- 
uals. Jehovah  chose  a  nation  through  which  He  could 
work  out  His  purposes.  Jesus  Christ  set  standards  for  national 
righteousness.  The  prophecies  deal  with  nations  even  more 
than  with  individuals.  To  the  thoughtful  reader  the  question 
comes  as  to  how  nations  differ  from  the  individuals  of  whom 
they  are  made  up  and  what  are  the  standards  by  which  nations 
should  walk.  This  study  is  the  more  vital  because  in  our  own 
day  we  are  concerned  about  national  problems  and  national  ethics. 

A  nation  is  an  aggregate  of  individuals,  but  its  righteousness 
is  not  the  sum  of  the  righteousness  of  each  of  these  individuals. 
That  might  be  true  in  a  pure  democracy,  but  only  if  the  state 
were  small.  Even  then  every  one  would  stand  or  fall  before  God 
by  himself  alone,  while  the  nation  as  a  whole  would  be  judged 
otherwise.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  people  have  had  little  to  say 
about  national  laws  or  national  affairs  until  recent  times.  They 
have  been  ruled  by  oligarchies  or  aristocracies  or  groups  of 
men  gathered  about  kings  and  emperors,  the  Caesars  of  history. 

Yet  there  are  standards  for  the  masses,  however  they  have 
been  made  or  established.  It  is  the  more  important  that  these 
should  be  recognized  because  there  are  parallel  with  them  na- 
tional judgments  in  which  the  innocent  and  the  guilty  —  men, 
women,  and  children  —  have  suffered.  The  Bible  sets  before  us 
three  types  of  national  standard:  one  of  the  Jew,  one  of  the 
Gentile,  one  of  the  Christian  world. 

The  standards  for  Israel,  the  chosen  people,  were  the  ten 
commandments  given  to  Moses,  ten  words  which  should  be 
their  national  constitution.  That  decalogue  stands  to-day,  an 
imperishable  monument  and  an  example  for  all  nations. 

In  the  books  of  Leviticus  and  Numbers  we  have  the  ampli- 
fication of  these  statutes  and  ordinances,  carrying  out  in  detail 
how  the  constitution  was  to  be  interpreted  and  administered. 

106 


They  were  given  to  Moses  —  the  learned  Moses,  the  prophet 
Moses,  who  had  twice  spent  forty  days  alone  with  the  Lord  — 
during  the  forty  years  that  he  was  with  the  chosen  people  before 
he  went  up,  with  his  natural  vigor  unimpaired,  to  the  mountain 
to  die  there.  Additions  may  have  been  made  later  to  this  de- 
tailed code;  but  this  is  a  matter  of  conjecture.  A  careful  read- 
ing of  these  books  in  this  light  will  enable  the  reader  to  put  in 
their  proper  place  these  matters  of  detail,  as  they  correspond 
more  or  less  closely  with  our  Bill  of  Rights  and  written  consti- 
tutions, which  are  the  interpretation  by  our  jurists  of  the  basal 
laws.  The  ten  words  are  basal ;  they  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the 
national  righteousness.  This  distinction  gives  an  abiding  in- 
terest to  all  that  is  written  in  the  first  five  books  of  the  Bible. 
This  was  the  standard  by  which  Israel  was  judged. 

Take  the  first  commandment  and  the  fourth;  see  how  inti- 
mately the  whole  body  of  minor  directions  is  made  to  bind  the 
people  closely  to  the  Lord  their  God  and  to  the  Sabbath  Day. 
A  large  group  of  statutes  set  forth  what  is  to  be  done  when  the 
commandment  "Thou  shalt  not  kilV^  is  broken,  especially  as  it  is 
indissolubly  though  indirectly  associated  with  the  seventh  com- 
mandment in  the  relation  of  the  sexes.  The  many  statutes 
about  property  gather  about  the  tenth  word;  those  relating  to 
family  life  about  "Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother."  The 
ten  words  are  general  as  well  as  specific;  the  variations  that 
fail  to  carry  out  their  spirit  in  the  lives  of  those  who  covenanted 
to  keep  them  are  met  by  special  legislation,  as  with  us,  or  by 
judgment.  Take,  for  example,  the  law  of  the  Sabbath.  It  was 
applied  even  to  the  land,  because  broken  as  to  that  particular. 
Israel  went  into  captivity;  the  land  had  its  rest,  its  Sabbath. 

This  was  the  standard  for  Israel,  but  there  was  no  law  for 
the  nations  outside  of  Israel.  So  far  as  the  Scriptures  tell  us 
they  were  left  to  themselves  save  on  the  broadest  lines.  What 
under  such  conditions  would  men  do?  This  has  always  been  the 
question.  What  would  be  the  relation  of  men  as  peoples  to 
the  God  in  whom  we  all  "live  and  move  and  have  our  being"? 
What  would  men  work  out  in  their  relations  to  one  another  when 

107 


they  had  not  received  in  formal  manner  the  two  great  com- 
mandments to  love  God  and  love  their  neighbor? 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  that  question  is  answered  both 
as  to  Jew  and  Greek,  the  latter  the  crown  of  ancient  civiliza- 
tion. Conscience  was  their  rule.  What  is  conscience?  The 
Greek  word  signifies  "knowing  with  one's  self."  But  let  the 
apostle  to  the  Gentiles  illustrate  for  us  its  meaning.  "For  when 
Gentiles  which  have  no  law  do  by  nature  the  things  of  the  law, 
these,  having  no  law,  are  a  law  unto  themselves;  in  that  they 
shew  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts,  their  conscience 
hearing  witness  therewith,  and  their  thoughts  [reasonings]  one 
with  another  accusing  or  else  excusing  them"  (Rom.  2:14,  15). 
They  are  not  left  without  a  witness.  Here  is  their  standard 
for  righteousness.  The  law  in  their  hearts,  their  thoughts,  and 
theu"  reasomngs  play  the  part  of  accusing  or  excusing  them. 
Add  to  this  that,  knowing  God  as  "manifest  in  them"  ("for 
God  manifested  it  unto  them,  for  the  invisible  things  of  him  since 
the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being  perceived  through 
the  things  that  are  made,  even  his  everlasting  power  and  God- 
head [divinity]"),  they  "glorified  him  not  as  God,  neither  gave 
thanks,"  and  we  see  why  the  Gentile  world  was  "without  ex- 
cuse." Of  them  were  demanded  two  things  —  precisely  what 
the  first  commandment  called  for:  that  God  should  be  glorified 
and  that  thanks  should  be  given  (Rom.  1 :  18-23).  By  this  law 
of  national  righteousness  the  Gentile  world  stands  or  falls.  His- 
tory is  the  witness  of  their  weakening  or  downfall.  The  ruins 
of  the  great  capitals  of  the  greatest  of  their  nations  are  the 
ground  where  the  explorer  with  his  spade  uncovers  tablets, 
parchments,  and  other  memorials  of  their  past,  all  confirming 
and  strengthening  the  words  of  the  Scriptures  concerning  them. 
The  simple  law  which  we  all  know  in  ourselves,  written  in  men's 
hearts,  accusing  and  excusing,  was  also  the  law  for  rulers  and  na- 
tions. Therefrom  sprang  the  forms  of  government  and  the  codes 
and  customs  that  were  imposed  upon  the  peoples,  many  of  which 
survive  still  in  Europe  and  Asia,  in  that  Roman  Empire  which 
in  its  Eastern  and  Western  divisions  was  the  field  of  prophecy. 

108 


With  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  beginnings  of  the 
rule  of  the  Son  of  Man,  a  new  or  added  standard  was  set  up. 
This  is  placed  before  us  in  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of  St. 
Matthew's  Gospel  in  a  picture  familiar  to  us  all,  a  picture  of 
national  judgment.  Its  background  is  in  three  parables:  of 
the  householder  and  his  faithful  or  evil  servant;  of  the  ten 
virgins,  five  wise  and  five  foolish;  and  of  the  man  who,  going  into 
another  country,  delivers  to  his  servants  his  goods,  five  talents, 
two  talents,  one  talent.  The  first,  that  of  the  householder,  deals 
with  individual  responsibility;  the  second,  that  of  the  virgins, 
with  the  church,  so  often  referred  to  under  the  name  virgin; 
the  third,  .that  of  the  talents,  with  men  as  they  are  bound  to- 
gether in  the  community  life  of  the  world,  and  as  each  has  a 
certain  measure  of  ability  and  responsibility.  These  parables 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  follow  the  call  to  watch  for  the 
coming  [presence]  of  the  Son  of  Man.  The  picture  drawn  is  of  this 
coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  His  glory.  His  angels  are  with  Him. 
The  nations  are  placed  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left  as  He 
sits  upon  the  throne  of  His  glory.  That  this  is  a  parable  of  na- 
tions, that  the  word  ^' these"  in  the  concluding  sentences  of  the 
passage  refers  to  nations,  is  the  plain  sense  of  the  text.  Our 
English  use  of  the  pronoim  calls  always  for  the  noun  for  which 
it  stands.  This  is  a  picture  of  nations  before  the  Son  of  Man, 
the  ruler  of  the  kings  of  the  earth,  who  says  to  the  nations, 
''Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,"  or  **  Depart  from 
me,  ye  cursed."  The  added  words  are  so  familiar  that  they 
need  not  be  repeated,  save  the  first  and  last  sentences.  ''For  I 
was  an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat.  ...  I  was  in  prison, 
and  ye  came  unto  me."  Of  what  is  here  stated  to  have  taken 
place  they  are  unaware,  and  their  answer  is,  "When  saw 
we  thee  an  hungered  ...  in  prison,  and  came  unto  thee?" 
The  King  replies,  "Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Inasmuch  as  ye  did 
it  unto  one  of  these  my  brethren,  even  these  least,  ye  did  it 
unto  me."  This  is  so  different  from  the  work  we  do  for  Christ 
that  we  at  once  note  that  we  are  not  on  the  ground  that  we  as 

109 


individuals  traverse  when  we  feed  the  hungry,  visit  the  sick, 
clothe  the  naked,  etc.  We  know  that  we  do  it,  and  we  do  it 
deliberately  and  gladly  in  the  name  of  Our  Lord.  The  other 
group,  those  on  the  left,  are  equally  ignorant  and  answer,  "When 
saw  we  thee  an  hungered  ...  in  prison,  and  did  not  minister 
unto  thee?"  The  answer  to  these  is  in  the  words,  "Verily  I 
say  unto  you.  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  imto  one  of  these  least, 
ye  did  it  not  unto  me."  These  are  told  that  they  are  to  depart 
"into  the  eternal  [age-lasting]  fire  which  is  prepared  for  the  devil 
and  his  angels."  The  picture  closes  with  the  words,  "These 
shall  go  away  into  eternal  [age-lasting]  punishment:  but  the 
righteous  into  eternal  [age-lasting]  life." 

We  are  concerned  for  the  moment  with  national  righteous- 
ness rather  than  with  national  judgments,  on  which  light  is  shed 
in  other  word-groups.  It  should,  however,  be  noted  that  the 
word  punishment,  the  Greek  word  kolasis,  carries  two  senses: 
first,  that  of  pruning  and  of  care  to  see  what  can  be  done  where 
there  i^  not  proper  fruitage,  as  in  the  pruning  and  caring  for  a 
tree;  and  second,  that  of  rooting  up,  destroying,  getting  rid  of 
what  proves  unresponsive  to  this  earlier  treatment.  These 
processes  have  been  national  history  since  the  Son  of  Man 
ascended  to  His  throne.  Nations  are  sent  the  message  which 
Jesus  Christ  brought  to  us.  As  they  respond  in  their  national 
fife,  so  are  they  dealt  with.  If  they  care  for  the  weak,  the  needy, 
the  stranger,  if  they  walk  in  the  ways  of  the  Son  of  Man,  the 
lover  of  humanity,  they  prosper.  If  they  fail  to  answer  to  this 
test,  their  fate  is  sealed.  They  will  undergo  pruning,  cutting, 
correcting  in  national  ways;  if  they  answer  not  thereto,  national 
ruin  awaits  them.  Work  for  humanity,  in  its  best  and  broadest 
sense,  counting  men  brethren,  this  is  the  national  duty.  Where 
this  spirit  and  practice  prevail  the  nation  moves  on  its  steadfast 
way  with  Him  whose  dominion  will  not  pass  away  nor  His  king- 
dom be  destroyed.  The  key  to  the  standard  of  righteousness 
for  Christian  nations  lies  in  the  fact  that  He  who  has  set  the 
goal  and  will  give  the  judgment  appears  not  only  as  King,  but 
as  the  Son  of  Man. 

110 


WORLD  RIGHTEOUSNESS 

"TJjlOR  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  Jehovah,  as 
r  the  waters  cover  the  sea."  This  is  the  concluding  sentence 
of  a  chapter  that  begins,  ''And  there  shall  come  forth  a  shoot 
out  of  the  stock  of  Jesse,"  which  gives  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
of  descriptions  of  Him  who  was  bom  in  Bethlehem.  World 
righteousness  as  treated  in  the  Bible  represents  a  condition  not 
of  one  nation,  but  of  all  mankind,  a  universal  righteousness  which 
is  to  come.  While  both  national  and  personal  righteousness  are 
included  in  it,  it  is  distinct  from  both.  This  conception  is  in  that 
promise  to  Abram  when  he  was  called  to  leave  his  home  and 
go  into  a  strange  land,  "In  thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth 
be  blessed,"  and  is  repeated  to  Jacob  as  he  slept  with  a  stone 
for  his  pillow.  St.  Paul  pours  out  his  soul  in  prayer  to  "the 
Father,  from  whom  every  family  [Greek,  fatherhood]  in  heaven 
and  on  earth  is  named,"  and  again  and  again  takes  the  whole 
world  into  his  vision  as  he  writes  and  proclaims  the  Gospel  as 
it  had  been  given  to  him  by  revelation.  But  it  is  in  the  words 
spoken  to  the  eleven  disciples  in  Galilee  that  we  have  the  teach- 
ing that  makes  this  study  possible,  "All  authority  hath  been 
given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  Go  ye  therefore,  and 
make  disciples  of  all  the  nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  name 
of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit:  teaching 
them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  commanded  you:  and 
lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world  [the 
consummation  of  the  age]."  Here  we  have  placed  before  us  a 
discipleship  of  all  the  nations.  They  are  to  be  baptized  as  nations, 
to  be  taught  to  observe  all  the  things  commanded  the  group  of 
disciples.  The  apostles  of  this  commission  are  assured,  while 
they  do  this,  of  the  presence  of  Him  who  has  all  authority.  It 
is  to  take  an  "age."  The  limits  of  the  age  are  not  given  in  terms 
of  time  or  duration.  The  One  who  had  all  authority  said.  Dis- 
ciple all  the  nations,  teach  them,  baptize  them.    In  using  the 

111 


three  names  of  this  scripture  as  a  baptismal  formula  we  have 
missed  too  much  the  real  sense  of  the  passage,  baptizing  them 
(the  nations)  into  the  name  of  the  Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  primal  meaning  of  the  words.  This  baptism 
has  no  reference  to  individual  baptism  with  water,  that  is,  such 
baptism  of  every  member  of  a  nation.  It  is  rather  in  the  words 
spoken  by  John  the  Baptist,  ''He  shall  baptize  you  with  the 
Holy  Spirit,"  that  we  get  the  true  thought.  Or  again  we 
connect  this  teaching  with  the  words  of  Jesus,  which  the  dis- 
ciples would  readily  recall,  "I  have  a  baptism  to  be  baptized 
with;  and  how  am  I  straitened  till  it  be  accomplished."  The 
reference  here  is  to  what  was  about  to  take  place  at  Jerusalem, 
His  sufferings  and  His  death.  Or  again  these  men  would  most 
naturally  recall  what  their  Lord  and  Master  said  when  James  and 
John  asked  of  Jesus  that  they  might  sit  at  His  right  hand  and 
left  hand  in  His  kingdom.  As  a  part  of  the  answer  Jesus  said, 
"Are  ye  able  to  be  baptized  with  the  baptism  that  I  am  baptized 
with?"  To  their  answer,  "We  are  able,"  He  repeated  in  part 
the  words  just  spoken,  "With  the  baptism  that  I  am  baptized 
withal  shall  ye  be  baptized."  The  episode  closes  with  the  words, 
"The  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  min- 
ister, and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many."  This  was  the 
background  of  teaching  and  experience  in  the  minds  of  the 
disciples  when  they  were  told  that  they  were  to  disciple  and 
baptize  the  nations.  The  disciples  were  themselves  to  be  bap- 
tized in  this  manner,  as  was  Jesus. 

If  we  ask  how  a  nation  can  be  baptized,  St.  Paul  answers 
the  question,  describing  an  historical  event  of  the  first  magni- 
tude, "  For  I  would  not,  brethren,  have  you  ignorant,  how  that 
our  fathers  were  all  imder  the  cloud,  and  all  passed  through  the 
sea;  and  were  all  baptized  unto  [into,  marginal  reading]  Moses  in 
the  cloud  and  in  the  sea."  Here  we  have  at  the  passage  of  the 
Red  Sea  a  nation  —  men,  women,  and  children  —  every  one 
baptized  into  a  name,  the  name  of  Moses.  In  the  call  to  baptize 
the  nations  into  the  three  names  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Spirit  we  have  a  call  to  a  similar  baptism  into  discipleship. 

112 


What  was  this  baptism  at  the  Red  Sea  to  the  nation?  What 
to  Moses?  Called  of  God  to  deliver  Israel,  Moses  had  sought 
of  Pharaoh,  by  signs  and  wonders  that  were  known  to  all  Egypt, 
that  Israel  might  go.  Moses  had  at  last  prevailed,  the  ruler  of 
Egypt  had  yielded.  The  people  were  on  the  seashore.  Pharaoh 
and  his  host  were  close  behind.  At  the  critical  hour  Moses 
cried  unto  Jehovah,  and  Jehovah  said  unto  Moses,  ''Wherefore 
criest  thou  unto  me?  speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  that  they 
go  forward.  And  lift  thou  up  thy  rod,  and  stretch  out  thine 
hand  over  the  sea,  and  divide  it."  Never  imtil  he  lifted  up  his 
rod,  had  Israel  as  a  nation  looked  upon  Moses,  nor  seen  with  their 
own  eyes  this  man  called  of  Jehovah  to  lead  them  out  of  bondage. 
In  this  hour  the  nation  knew  him  to  be  their  leader  chosen  by 
Jehovah.  Thereafter  not  to  do  the  bidding  of  Moses  and  not 
to  recognize  bim  as  the  representative  of  Jehovah  was  treason 
to  God.  Thus  was  the  nation  baptized  unto  Moses.  A  great 
deliverance  and  a  heaven-appointed  leadership  came  to  them. 

See  what  a  light  is  thrown  upon  national  discipleship  and 
world  righteousness.  Three  names  are  to  become  known 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  lands  where  men  dwell, 
the  name  of  the  Father  known  to  us  as  we  get  it  in  the  Gospels, 
the  name  of  the  Son  of  Man  as  He  wrought  and  saved  in  the 
same  records,  and  the  name  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  coming  ac- 
cording to  the  promise  of  the  Father  and  in  answer  to  the  request 
of  Jesus  Christ.  There  are  people  living  who  have  seen  and  been 
a  part  in  a  wonderful  change  which  has  come  over  this  genera- 
tion as  they  speak  of  God  as  Father.  More  and  more  is  the 
emphasis  placed  upon  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Brother- 
hood of  Man.  Equally  they  have  seen  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ 
lifted  high  above  all  names,  so  that  He  stands  as  the  One  whose 
words  and  deeds  showed  God  as  the  lover  of  men.  They  have 
seen  the  word  spirit  take  a  place  never  before  known.  Till 
these  three  names  have  been  written  on  the  hearts  of  the  nations, 
the  Great  Commission  awaits  fulfilment. 

WORLD  RIGHTEOUSNESS:  Isa.  ll:9,Gen.  12:3,28:14,Eph.3:15, 
Matt.  28:18,  19,  Luke  12:50,  Mark  10:35-45,  Matt.  20:20-28, 
I  Cor.  10:1,  2,  Exod.  14:15,  16,  Num.  16:1-15. 


PERSONAL,  OR  INDIVIDUAL,  AND 
UNIVERSAL  RIGHTEOUSNESS 

THE  first  righteous  man  named  in  the  Bible  is  Abel.  The 
record  concerning  him  is  in  these  words,  "By  faith  Abel 
offered  unto  God  a  more  excellent  sacrifice  than  Cain,  through 
which  he  had  witness  borne  to  him,  that  he  was  righteous.^^ 
The  next  man  so  described  was  Abram,  before  his  name  was 
changed  to  Abraham.  "The  word  of  Jehovah  came  unto  him, 
saying.  This  man  shall  not  be  thine  heir."  Then  taking  him 
"abroad"  Jehovah  further  said,  "Look  now  toward  heaven,  and 
tell  the  stars,  if  thou  be  able  to  number  them.  ...  So  shall  thy 
seed  be."  And  Abram  "believed  in  Jehovah;  and  he  counted 
it  to  him  for  righteousness  J  ^  Here  is  our  key  to  the  words 
righteous  and  righteousness  as  they  apply  to  the  individual 
man.  Faith,  with  the  works  growing  out  of  faith,  is  the  one 
word  that  from  Genesis  to  Revelation  is  associated  with  them. 
All  other  righteousness  is  laid  bare  before  us  in  the  living  oracles 
and  is  seen  to  fall  short  of  the  righteousness  of  God.  The  right- 
eousness of  faith  alone  stands  all  tests. 

In  the  King  James  Version  of  our  Bibles  the  same  Hebrew 
and  Greek  words  of  the  original  are  interchangeably  translated 
righteous  and  just.  So  we  must  add  the  word  ju^t  with  its  deriv- 
atives justifier  and  justified  to  our  study.  In  the  American  Re- 
vision the  same  form  is  usually  retained  except  in  certain  cases 
where  the  word  righteous  is  substituted  for  the  word  just.  But 
that  there  may  be  no  mistaking  the  fact  that  the  words  refer  to 
righteousness,  the  reader  finds  frequently  the  marginal  reading 
that  indicates  it.  So  in  Romans  "not  the  hearers  of  the  law  are 
just  [marginal  reading,  righteous]  before  God,  but  the  doers  of 
the  law  shall  be  justified  [marginal  reading,  accoimted  righteous].'* 

We  read  that  "Noah  was  a  righteous  man  and  perfect  [blame- 
less] in  his  generations :  Noah  walked  with  God. ' '  In  the  Author- 
ized Version  the  reading  is  that  "Noah  was  a  just  man."     In 

114 


the  dark  days  in  which  this  blameless  man  walked  with  God 
the  single  ray  of  light  that  is  seen  comes  from  Noah's  life  of 
faith,  ^^^y  faith  Noah,  being  warned  of  God  concerning  things 
not  seen  as  yet,  moved  wiih  godly  fear,  prepared  an  ark  .  .  . 
through  which  he  .  .  .  became  heir  of  the  righteousness  which 
is  according  to  faiths  That  "the  righteous  shall  live  by  faith' ' 
is,  so  to  speak,  the  text  on  which  are  based  the  letter  of  St.  Paul 
to  the  Romans  and  to  the  Galatians.  This  is  almost  as  true  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Personal  righteousness  is  the 
righteousness  oi  faith,  for  ^'without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  be 
well-pleasing  unto  him." 

Universal  righteousness  finds  its  first  expression  in  these  words 
spoken  by  Moses,  "Hear,  O  Israel:  Jehovah  our  God  is  one 
Jehovah:  and  thou  shalt  love  Jehovah  thy  God  with  all  thine 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might."  It  had 
been  said  before  in  the  Book  of  Leviticus,  "Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself:  I  am  Jehovah."  When  a  scribe,  listening 
to  the  replies  of  Jesus,  asked  Him  what  commandment  was  first, 
Jesus  repeated  the  two  passages  quoted  above,  adding,  "There 
is  none  other  commandment  greater  than  these."  The  scribe's 
reply  led  Jesus  to  add,  "Thou  art  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of 
God."  When  a  certain  lawyer,  tempting  (testing)  him,  asked, 
"What  shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life?"  Jesus  said  to  him, 
"  What  is  written  in  the  law?  How  readest  thou?  "  The  lawyer 
quoted  the  two  commandments,  and  Jesus  said,  "Thou  hast 
answered  right:  this  do,  and  thou  shalt  live."  Whether  this 
was  the  lawyer  referred  to  in  the  Gospel  according  to  St. 
Matthew  we  do  not  know,  but  this  record  adds  these  words, 
"On  these  two  conmiandments  hangeth  the  whole  law,  and  the 
prophets."  Universal  righteou^sness  rests  on  fulfilling  these  two 
commandments,  made  personal  and  individual  in  the  hearts 
and  lives  of  men. 

What  is  love?  We  have  seen  in  a  previous  study  that  it  is 
imion  by  choice  (page  21).  Here  it  would  be  union  with  God, 
one's  neighbor,  and  one's  self.  All  are  to  be  loved.  In  this  love 
heart,  soul,  mind  are  joined  to  might  and  strength,  showing  that 

115 


the  whole  man  is  taken  into  this  union.  Can  all  meet  this 
threefold  standard  for  righteousness?  Are  they  in  their  nature 
and  by  God's  grace  prepared  to  love  as  commanded?  The  Bible 
answer  is  in  the  affirmative. 

Take  as  a  plain,  straightforward,  working  basis  for  loving 
God  these  words,  ''For  this  is  the  love  of  God,  that  we  keep  his 
commandments."  Note  the  force  of  the  added  words,  "  his  com- 
mandments are  not  grievous."  God  is  not  a  hard  master.  Turn 
to  the  words  of  Jesus  Himself  and  see  what  a  presence  and  what 
help  is  promised  that  we  may  love  as  we  should,  "  He  that  hath 
my  commandments,  and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that  loveth  me: 
and  he  that  loveth  me  shall  be  loved  of  my  Father,  and  I  will 
love  him,  and  will  manifest  myself  unto  him."  This  manifesta- 
tion would  be  of  itself  sufficient  to  the  one  who  received  it  to 
insure  the  walking  with  the  Father,  God. 

The  love  of  our  neighbor  is  to  be  as  we  love  ourselves,  so  that 
in  this  we  are  ourselves  the  rule  of  righteousness.  To  care  for 
one's  self  in  all  the  ways  that  are  right  and  needful  and  as  best 
we  can  in  our  lot  is  our  bounden  duty.  Those  ways  are  many, 
and  we  must  meet  them  daily.  To  fail  here  is  an  error,  and  may 
become  even  a  crime.  We  are  body,  soul,  and  spirit.  In  con- 
sidering ourselves  these  must  all  be  reckoned  with,  and  so  when 
we  think  of  others  in  such  a  way  as  to  wreck  ourselves  or  in  any 
way  do  ourselves  damage,  we  are  not  loving  ourselves.  The 
same  is  true  of  our  neighbor  who  may  be  next  door  or  may  stretch 
out  hands  of  pleading  from  any  place  on  earth.  Here,  in  this 
love,  are  born  our  philanthropies  and  all  manner  of  good  works. 
But  we  are  to  beware  lest  Satan,  or  some  one,  or  some  thing, 
urge  us  on  to  do  simply  because  there  is  something  to  be  done, 
and  so  we  lose  the  possibility  of  loving  our  neighbor  at  all  through 
our  own  disability  or  early  death. 

But  what  of  those  who  have  not  these  words  of  Jesus  and 
know  not  the  law  and  the  prophets?  St.  Paul  makes  answer  for 
all  generations,  "The  times  of  ignorance  therefore  God  over- 
looked." The  slate  is  clean.  This  should  be  our  message  to  all 
those  peoples  to  whom  we  go  with  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

116 


Let  this  same  apostle  to  the  Gentiles  set  before  us  the  faith  he 
held  and  taught.  Let  us  look  for  the  foundation  facts  on  which 
he  rested  and  could  proclaim  what  he  did  as  good  news,  glad 
tidings  to  all  men,  to  men  as  they  looked  backward  to  the  times 
of  their  fathers  and  forward  to  the  generations  that  were  to  come. 
It  is  natural  that  this  teaching  appears  as  he  writes  to  the  church 
at  Rome,  for  Rome  was  then  the  centre  where  men  from  all  the 
world  gathered.  "For  if  by  the  trespass  of  the  one  the  many 
died,  much  more  did  the  grace  of  God,  and  the  gift  by  the  grace 
of  the  one  man,  Jesus  Christ,  abound  unto  the  many."  Who 
were  these  "many"  who  had  trespassed?  All  men.  To  whom 
was  this  grace  to  abound  through  Jesus  Christ?  To  the  same 
"many,"  all  men.  But  not  to  quote  all  this  extraordinary  pas- 
sage in  the  fifth  chapter  of  Romans,  let  us  rest  with  this  one 
word  more,  leaving  the  reader  to  turn  to  his  Bible.  "For  as 
through  one  man's  disobedience  the  many  were  made  sinners, 
even  so  through  the  obedience  of  the  one  shall  the  many  be 
made  righteous.^'  Who  are  the  "many"  here?  As  before,  all 
men.  The  one  who  disobeyed,  and  through  whose  disobedience 
the  many  were  made  sinners,  is  Adam;  the  obedient  one,  Jesus 
Christ.  How  are  the  many  righteous  f  There  is  planted  in  every 
child  bom  in  the  likeness  and  image  of  Adam  a  life,  a  foundation 
for  the  work  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  "as  sin  reigned  in  death, 
even  so  might  grace  reign  through  righteousness  unto  eternal 
life  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 

Adam  sinned.  Death,  the  separateness  from  God,  followed, 
and  communion  with  Him  as  it  had  been  before  departed.  A  race 
of  men  were  to  follow.  What  would  justify,  make  it  right,  that 
the  whole  human  race  should  start  thus  fathered?  Adam  did 
not  believe  God.  The  race  was  to  be  personally  and  individu- 
ally counted  righteous  as  they  believed  God.  What  of  the  whole 
himian  brotherhood?  One  act  of  righteousness,  wrought  by  Jesus 
Christ  Our  Lord,  was  to  free  all  men  from  the  condemnation 
that  would  come  upon  them  through  this  ancestral  disobedience. 
This  is  the  "free  gift"  of  God  to  all,  St.  Paul  tells  the  church 
at  Rome.    At  Athens,  after  setting  before  his  hearers  how  they 

117 


had  in  ignorance  inscribed  an  altar  "To  an  unknown  God,"  he 
takes  away  all  color  of  condemnation  for  their  worship  of  graven 
images  and  for  their  thought  that  the  God  who  made  all  things 
dwelt  in  temples  made  with  hands,  by  the  simple  sentence, 
quoted  earlier,  *'the  times  of  ignorance  therefore  God  over- 
looked." It  was  as  though  they  had  not  been.  "  Where  sin  had 
abounded,  grace  did  aboimd  more  exceedingly."  To  the  church 
at  Corinth  he  wrote,  "But  all  things  are  of  God,  who  recon- 
ciled us  to  himself  through  Christ,  and  gave  unto  us  the  min- 
istry of  reconciliation;  to  wit,  that  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling 
the  world  unto  himself,  not  reckoning  unto  them  their  tres- 
passes." Nothing  could  be  plainer  than  the  way  St.  Paul  viewed 
the  Gentiles,  their  times  of  ignorance  prolonged  through  cen- 
turies, their  trespasses  innumerable.  Free  grace  through  Jesus 
Christ  Our  Lord  had  attended  to  these  times  and  these  tres- 
passes.   His  call  was  ever,  "Come  to  Christ,  believe." 

A  brief  summary  may  be  stated  as  follows: 

First,  that  the  race  comes  into  the  world  with  a  birthmark, 
so  to  speak,  upon  it  from  the  sin  of  our  first  parents;  that  though 
we  may  be  handicapped  thereby,  we  are  as  free  to  choose  as 
were  they,  but  greatly  helped  by  grace. 

■  Second,  that  the  consequences,  including  all  our  disabilities 
by  this  inheritance,  are  met  by  a  free  gift  by  the  merciful  and 
gracious  God,  so  that  trespasses  due  to  this  inheritance  do  not 
count  against  us  through  Jesus  Christ  Our  Lord. 

Third,  that  before  God  we  stand  righteous,  despite  our  igno- 
rance and  failure,  but  that  as  men  answer  to  the  life  and  light 
within  us,  so  are  we  judged 

RIGHTEOUSNESS:  Heb.  11:4,  witness  borne  to  him,  that  he  was 
righteous;  Gen.  15:6,  counted  it  to  him  for  righteousness;  Rom. 
2: 13,  just  before  God  .  .  .  justified;  Gen.  6:9,  Noah  was  a  righteous 
man;  Rom.  1:17,  the  righteous  shall  live  by  faith;  Deut.  6:4,  5, 
Lev.  19:18,  Mark  12:28-34,  Luke  10:25-29,  Matt.  22:34-40, 
I  John  5:3,  John  14:21,  the  two  commandments;  Acts  17:30,  the 
times  of  ignorance;  Rom.  5: 12-21,  II  Cor.  5: 18, 19,  righteousness, 
justification. 

118 


A  CONSUMING  FIRE,  JUDGMENTS 

THE  words  that  this  study  has  in  mind  are  found  in  many 
forms  in  the  Scriptures,  but  are,  as  it  were,  gathered  to- 
gether in  the  passage  (Heb.  12 :  29)  which  concludes  "  for  our  God 
is  a  consuming  fire"  and  the  equally  significant  passage  (Acts 
17:31)  which  declares  that  God  has  appointed  a  day  in  which 
He  will  judge  the  world  by  that  man  whom  He  hath  ordained, 
even  Jesus  Christ,  whom  He  had  raised  from  the  dead  as  His 
witness  and  seal  thereto.  Whatever  in  the  present  or  in  the 
future  can  be  consumed  will  perish;  whatever  can  stand  the 
test  of  fire  and  the  shakings  of  God  will  remain.  ''Yet  once 
more,''  we  read,  turning  to  the  chapter  of  which  the  phrase  "a 
consuming  fire"  is  the  conclusion,  "yet  once  more  will  I  make 
to  tremble  not  the  earth  only,  but  also  the  heaven."  This 
word,  it  adds,  signifies  ''the  removing  of  those  things  that  are 
shaken,  as  of  things  that  have  been  made,  that  those  things 
which  are  not  shaken  may  remain." 

If  we  would  know  of  the  shakings  that  have  been,  we  go  back 
in  the  verses  that  precede  this  prophetic  announcement  to  Old 
Testament  times  and  read  of  a  mount  that  might  be  touched 
and  that  burned  with  fire,  where,  with  the  sound  of  a  trumpet 
and  the  voice  of  words,  there  is  an  appearance  so  fearful  that 
Moses  said,  "I  exceedingly  fear  and  quake."  Here  we  are  at 
the  beginning  of  the  national  life  of  Israel;  the  law  is  being 
given.  Follow  that  history  and  see  the  shaking  of  the  nations, 
not  alone  those  which  were  dispossessed  of  Canaan,  but  the 
kingdoms  that  are  seen  by  Daniel  and  the  prophets,  the  four 
kingdoms  whose  magnificence  we  have  seen  in  the  great  image 
and  whose  spirit  and  power  was  shown  in  the  beasts  described 
by  Daniel.  Babylon  is  no  more.  There  have  been  mighty  shak- 
ings. The  last  of  these  world-ruling  powers,  imperial  Rome, 
has  been  broken  into  pieces;  first  into  two  parts,  then,  as  to 
the  western  half  of  ancient  Rome,  into  ten  kingdoms  that  but 

119 


yesterday  were  Italy,  Austria,  Switzerland,  France,  Germany, 
England,  Holland,  Belgium,  Spain,  and  Portugal.  In  the  time 
of  the  fall  of  Romulus  Augustulus,  the  last  emperor  of  Rome, 
the  Lombards,  the  Franks,  the  Burgundians,  the  Ostrogoths,  the 
Visigoths,  the  Heruli,  the  Sueves,  the  Huns,  and  the  Saxons, 
ten  in  all,  occupied  the  same  territory.  With  numbers  varying 
during  the  "shakings,"  there  have  been  from  this  period  until 
now,  as  a  rule,  not  thirty  or  forty  small  kingdoms,  but  about 
ten  kingdoms  in  this  territory.  These  kingdoms  would  well 
answer  to  the  clay  and  iron  of  the  feet  of  the  great  image  seen 
by  Nebuchadnezzar.  A  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain  without 
hands  demolishes  all  these  powers,  and  then  comes  the  vision 
of  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  Man. 

"Our  God  is  a  consuming  fire"  says  the  inspired  penman. 
To  whom  is  he  writing?  To  the  Hebrew  people  scattered  far 
and  wide.  What  has  been  consumed?  Their  national  existence* 
their  whole  religious  system  with  its  daily  sacrifices  and  feasts 
and  fasts,  the  temple  —  all  are  gone,  consumed  by  the  God  by 
whom  they  had  been  appointed.  This  consuming  fire  will  bum, 
these  shakings  will  continue,  till  men  as  individuals  and  men  as 
nations  live  and  legislate  in  conformity  to  the  will  of  God.  Let 
us  have  courage  to  welcome  consuming  fire. 

The  judgment  of  the  world  in  righteousness  awaits  the  going 
forth  into  all  lands  of  those  who  as  messengers  of  the  kingdom 
that  cannot  be  shaken  command  all  men  everywhere  to  repent. 
This  is  but  carrjdng  out  the  method  of  John  the  Baptist,  of  Jesus, 
and  of  Peter  at  Pentecost.  The  times  of  ignorance  which  God 
overlooked  pass  with  this  call  to  repentance,  and  men  will  be 
j  udged  as  they  answer  to  this  call .  The ' '  appointed  day ' '  cannot 
come  till  this  call  has  gone  forth,  and  it  cannot  go  save  as  those 
are  sent  who,  while  they  say  "Repent,"  add,  as  Jesus  did,  "Be- 
lieve in  the  Gospel."  The  glad  news  must  be  told,  the  kingdom 
of  God  must  be  announced.  The  day  of  world  judgment  has 
scarcely  dawned,  since  the  fact  that  there  is  a  "Gospel  of  the 
kingdom"  has  not  yet  reached  the  multitudes  who  dwell  in 
the  inhabited  earth.    The  fulness  of  the  Gentiles,  when  all  Israel 

120 


shall  be  saved,  is  to  us  but  a  word  of  prophecy.  Its  fulfilment 
can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  in  sight,  much  less  to  be  a  reality. 

Turning  from  this  outlook  into  the  future,  let  us  look  at 
the  words  judge  and  judgment  nearer  home.  "Judge  not,"  said 
Jesus,  "that  ye  be  not  judged"  (Matt.  7).  To  this  we  often 
have  this  dangerous  answer  made,  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them";  dangerous  because  this  latter  is  spoken  of  false 
prophets  or  teachers,  who  come  in  sheep's  clothing,  but  inwardly 
are  ravening  wolves.  The  former  is  said  to  the  man  who,  looking 
upon  his  brother  with  a  beam  in  his  own  eye,  sees  a  mote  in  his 
brother's  eye.  "Thou  hypocrite"  is  the  name  given  this  judge. 
A  judge  decides  upon  evidence;  a  judgment  is  a  decision  reached 
in  view  of  the  facts.  Jesus  says,  "As  I  hear,  I  judge:  and  my 
judgment  is  just;  because  I  seek  not  mine  own  will,  but  the 
will  of  him  that  sent  me"  (John  5:30).  Again  He  says,  "Judge 
not  according  to  appearance,  but  judge  righteous  judgment" 
(John  7:24).  He  is  our  example  and  teacher.  He  will  be  oiu* 
Judge.  The  true  sense  of  the  word  judge  is  seen  in  the  choice 
by  Moses  of  seventy  men  to  whom  cases  could  be  referred  that 
need  not  come  to  him.  Again  in  the  judges  of  Israel  we  see  men 
chosen  by  Jehovah  for  His  people.  A  perfect  illustration  is 
seen  when,  to  one  who  said  to  Him  (Luke  12: 14),  "Master,  bid 
my  brother  divide  the  inheritance  with  me,"  Jesus  said,  "Man, 
who  made  me  a  judge  or  a  divider  over  you?  " 

The  last  words  of  judgment  written  in  the  Revelation  lead  us 
to  the  words,  six  times  recorded,  the  lake  of  fire  or  of  fire  and 
brimstone  which  is  also  spoken  of  as  the  second  death.  The 
first  mention  of  the  second  death  comes  in  the  second  chapter 
of  Revelation  (2:11),  where  it  is  said  concerning  the  church  at 
Smyrna,  "He  that  overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  second 
death."  In  the  concluding  chapters  concerning  judgment  (Rev. 
19:20;  20:6,  10,  14,  15;  21:8)  come  the  other  references.  The 
great  harlot  has  been  judged;  the  voice  of  a  great  multitude  has 
been  heard  as  in  heaven  they  say,  "Hallelujah;  Salvation,  and 
glory,  and  power,  belong  to  our  God  .  .  .  Hallelujah;  and  her 
smoke  (the  smoke  of  the  great  harlot)  goeth  up  for  ever  and 

121 


ever  [unto  the  ages  of  the  ages],"  Other  scenes  follow  until  the 
heaven  opens  and  a  white  horse  is  seen,  with  one  that  sat  upon 
him  called  "Faithful  and  True;  and  in  righteousness  he  doth 
judge  and  make  war."  The  armies  of  heaven  follow  Him  who  is 
again  named  the  Word  of  God,  King  op  Kings,  and  Lord  of 
Lords.  The  beast  and  the  kings  of  the  earth  are  gathered  and 
go  down  in  defeat.  The  beast  and  the  false  prophet  are  taken 
alive.  No  others  survive.  They  two  were  cast  alive  into  the 
"  lake  of  fire  that  burneth  with  brimstone."  Two  great  systems, 
world  power  and  false  teaching,  have  come  to  judgment  in  a  fire 
whose  flame  is  intensified  by  the  word  brimstone.  Again,  when 
the  thousand  years  are  finished,  Satan,  loosed  from  prison,  comes 
forth  to  deceive  the  nations;  there  is  another  great  struggle, 
and  for  the  deliverance  of  the  saints  and  the  beloved  city,  com- 
passed about  by  numbers  that  are  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  "fire 
came  down  out  of  heaven  and  devoured  them;  and  the  devil 
that  deceived  them  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone, 
where  are  also  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet;  and  they  shall 
be  tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  and  ever  [unto  the  ages  of 
the  ages]."  We  have  read  of  those  who  had  part  in  the  first 
resurrection,  over  whom,  it  is  said,  ''the  second  death  hath  no 
power."  Now  we  read  of  the  great  white  throne,  of  those  whose 
names  are  written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life.  The  sea  gives  up 
its  dead;  death  and  Hades  give  up  their  dead;  and  they  are 
judged  every  man  according  to  his  works.  Then  come  these 
words,  "And  death  and  Hades  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. 
This  is  the  second  death,  even  the  lake  of  fire.  And  if  any  was 
not  found  written  in  the  book  of  life,  he  was  cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire."  We  see  the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth,  and  those 
who  have  overcome  shall  inherit  these  things.  "But  for  the 
fearful,  and  unbelieving,  and  abominable,  and  murderers,  and 
fornicators,  and  sorcerers,  and  idolators,  and  all  liars,  their 
part  shall  be  in  the  lake  that  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone; 
which  is  the  second  death."  This  second  death  is  "their  part" 
in  this  picture  of  judgment. 
There  is  no  second  death  that  is  not  preceded  by  a  first  death. 

122 


This  first  death,  separation  from  conscious  union  and  fellowship 
with  God,  was  taken  up  in  our  first  study;  the  second  death  is 
here  symbolized  by  the  lake  of  fire.  Fire  in  the  Scriptures  sym- 
bolizes the  judgments  and  the  salvation  of  God.  It  can  be  no 
different  here.  When,  therefore,  we  read  the  list  of  those  who 
are  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire,  we  recognize  that  this  must  be  a 
picture  of  judgment,  a  judgment  not  other  than  that  pronounced 
by  Jesus  on  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  God  is  a  righteous  judge. 
There  will  be  a  discrimination  in  judgment.  The  fearful  will 
not  be  given  the  same  judgment  as  that  given  to  "all  [liars." 
With  this  thought  note  also,  concerning  this  judgment  repre- 
sented by  the  lake  of  fire,  that  the  words  "for  ever"  or  "unto 
the  ages  of  the  ages"  are  not  used  save  of  the  Beast,  the  false 
prophet,  and  of  him  who  gave  them  authority;  that  is,  the  dura- 
tion is  not  specified.  Note  once  more  that  those  to  whom  this 
second  death  comes  are  those  whose  names  are  not  written  in  the 
Lamb^s  book  of  life,  not  those  of  whom  Jesus  had  said  that  they 
that  believed  on  Him  come  not  into  judgment,  but  have  passed 
out  of  death  into  life.  And  note,  lastly,  that  we  are  told  that 
they  have  "their  part,"  that  which  belongs  to  them  as  not  trust- 
ing in  or  obeying  God.  What  that  part  is  we  are  not  told.  As 
we  look  back  upon  the  study  of  Gehenna  we  see  that  everyone 
shall  be  salted  with  fire.  Salt  saves  from  corruption.  So  as  we 
consider  this  fire,  which  differs  only  in  the  pictorial  use  of  the 
word  lake  from  the  other  pictures  where  God  manifests  His  pres- 
ence in  fire,  we  are  not  justified  in  reading  into  it  any  conception 
other  than  that  which  ever  goes  with  the  word  fire.  It  is  the 
presence  of  God,  His  presence  not  as  in  judgment  or  as  a  re- 
fining agent  or  in  salvation  in  the  whole  world,  but  in  a  lake, 
in  a  spot  of  earth  confined,  as  it  were.  Its  duration  in  judg- 
ment can  be  known  only  to  God.  As  all  His  judgments  in  the 
Scriptures  have  been  followed  by  manifestations  of  His  grace, 
we  have  no  Biblical  ground  for  thinking  otherwise  here.  As  the 
first  death  which  comes  to  all  was  followed  by  the  gift  of  eternal 
life,  so  the  second  death  may  be  followed  by  grace.  God  knoweth. 
It  is  the  Bible  teaching  that  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 

123 


THE  NEW  HEAVENS  AND  THE 
NEW  EARTH 

T^  rE  read  first  of  a  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth  in  the 
V  V  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  where  it  is  written,  "For,  behold,  I 
create  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth:  and  the  former  things  shall 
not  be  remembered,  nor  come  into  mind."  And  again,  "For  as 
the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth,  which  I  will  make,  shall 
remain  before  me,  so  shall  your  seed  and  your  name  remain" 
(Isa.  65:17,  18;  66:22).  The  next  reference  is  in  the  Second 
Epistle  of  Peter,  when  in  response  to  a  mocking  inquiry,  "Where 
is  the  promise  of  his  coming  [presence]?  for,  from  the  day  that 
the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things  continue  as  they  were  from  the 
beginning  of  the  creation,"  the  apostle  makes  a  reply  that  re- 
hearses an  event  in  the  past,  "that  there  were  heavens  from  of 
old,  and  an  earth  compacted  out  of  water  and  amidst  water, 
by  the  word  of  God"  (II  Pet.  3:4-14).  Turn  to  this  passage 
and  see  how  the  thought  develops,  leading  up  to  the  concluding 
words,  "But,  according  to  his  promise,  we  look  for  new  heavens 
and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness." 

We  have  had  in  a  few  words  that  part  of  the  Creation  story 
which  separated  the  land  from  the  water  and  placed  in  the  firma- 
ment the  two  great  lights  that  were  to  "rule"  the  day  and  the 
night.  By  this  means,  the  apostle  continues,  the  world,  being 
overflowed  with  water,  perished,  a  summary  of  the  flood;  but 
the  heavens  and  earth  that  now  are,  by  the  same  word  (the  word 
of  God),  have  been  stored  up  for  flre,  "being  reserved  against 
the  day  of  judgment  and  destruction  of  ungodly  men."  In  this 
passage  we  have,  first,  a  challenge  as  to  the  presence  of  God 
in  the  affairs  of  men,  and,  second,  a  rejoinder  showing  God's 
forethought  in  creating  the  things  seen,  which  made  possible 
in  the  hour  chosen  by  His  wisdom  and  mercy  a  catastrophe  of 
appalling  proportions  by  which  He  manifested  His  presence  and 
His  control  as  God  Almighty,  a  flood  of  waters  that  has  left, 
we  are  told,  its  visible  marks  on  all  the  continents.    A  new  order 

124 


of  things  was  then  instituted;  a  new  era  began.  The  ungodly 
had  perished  from  the  earth.  The  same  sun  and  moon  remained 
in  the  heavens.  The  earth  was  as  before  the  flood  the  home  of 
men.  What  next?  The  heavens  and  earth  are  stored  with  fire 
against  the  day  of  judgment  and  destruction  of  ungodly  men. 
If  there  were  no  further  statement,  we  should  expect  to  see  a 
world,  a  universe,  in  flames  in  God's  day  of  judgment.  But 
read  on.  We  are  told  to  forget  not  that  one  day  is  with  the 
Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day. 
We  are  out  of  time  reckonings,  and  so  are  apart  from  time  days. 
Looking  at  the  things  that  have  been  and  are  to  be,  we  read 
that  "the  Lord  is  not  slack  concerning  his  promise,  as  some  count 
slackness;  but  is  long-suffering,  wishing  .  .  .  that  all  should 
come  to  repentance."  This  is  the  reason  for  the  long  delay  in 
these  world-wide  matters.  The  call  to  repent  must  go  to  all 
men,  wherever  they  are,  before  they  can  answer  thereto.  It  is 
ours  to  carry  to  all  men  the  Gospel  message,  "Repent  and  be- 
lieve." But  the  day  of  the  Lord  will  come,  the  apostle  con- 
tinues (the  day  of  judgment  and  destruction),  and  when  it  comes 
it  will  come  unawares,  like  a  thief  in  the  night.  How  does  a 
thief  come  to  a  house?  Not  boldly,  with  observation,  but  we 
wake  to  find  him  there  or  know  by  our  losses  that  his  presence 
has  been  a  reality.  Then,  in  that  day,  the  heavens  shall  pass 
away,  the  elements  [heavenly  bodies]  be  dissolved  with  fervent 
heat,  "and  the  earth  and  the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be 
burned  up  (or  as  most  ancient  manuscripts  read,  discovered)." 
This  is  the  picture.  The  apostle  exhorts  those  to  whom  he  was 
writing  to  holy  living  and  godliness,  giving  as  his  reason  that 
they  should  be  looking  for  and  earnestly  desiring  [hastening] 
the  coming  of  the  day  of  God  (that  day  which  should  come  after 
the  longsuffering  of  God  had  come  to  an  end,  the  day  when  the 
call  to  repentance  had  gone  forth  and  men  had  heeded  it  or 
heeded  it  not),  "the  day  of  God,  by  reason  of  which  the  heavens 
being  on  fire  shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  elements  [heavenly 
bodies]  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat."  There  is  to  be  a  day 
of  fire,  a  day  of  discovery  of  what  earth  and  its  works  are,  a  day 

125 


of  melting  and  dissolution  for  heaven  and  earth.  "But,  accord- 
ing to  his  promise,  we  look  for  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth, 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness." 

As  we  saw  the  world  of  men  that  then  was  perish  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  flood,  so  now  we  see  judgment  pending,  waiting  be- 
cause of  the  longsuffering  of  God.  As  a  symbol  of  judgment  and 
destruction,  fire  is  to  the  last  degree  fitting.  It  is  Biblical.  We 
know  well  its  destructive  power.  How  is  the  earth  stored  for 
judgment?  As  a  single  instance,  a  single  method  chosen  from 
the  Scriptures,  read  in  the  prophecy  of  Joel  the  first  thirty-two 
verses  and  you  find  an  answer.  The  agents  for  the  judgments 
there  described  are  the  palmer-worm,  the  locust,  the  canker- 
worm,  and  the  caterpillar,  which  cover  the  land  as  a  devouring 
fire  and  leave  it  desolate.  These  are  all  earthborn  pests.  We 
know  how  the  sun  in  the  heavens  can  blight  man's  harvests, 
how  floods  from  the  clouds  can  blast  his  hopes,  and  with  what 
concern  we  watch,  as  the  seasons  come  and  go,  their  changing 
face.  They  are  stored  with  what  can  destroy  and  devastate.  It 
is  not  difiicult,  then,  to  see  what  this  sjrmbol  would  be  likely  to 
mean.  It  is  possible  to  modify  our  thought  from  that  first  con- 
ception of  a  universe  aflame.  The  judgments  that  cannot  be 
mistaken  as  coming  from  Him  that  made  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  are  being  brought  home  to  men  in  a  new  period  of  their 
history.  The  outcome  is  a  new  order  upon  the  earth  according 
to  the  promises  of  God  that  men  shall  rule  and  be  ruled  and  live 
righteously.  It  is  a  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth  where  right- 
eousness has  its  dwelling  and  its  home.  Is  that  here  now?  It 
is  in  its  beginnings,  and  with  the  reign  of  Christ  a  generation  or 
a  century  may  make  changes  that  in  some  measure  fulfil  not 
only  the  wonderful  imagery  of  Isaiah,  but  the  words  of  promise 
which  have  been  spoken  by  all  the  prophets  since  the  world 
began.  As  regards  the  definite  promises  to  Israel,  we  may  look 
in  the  new  order  of  things  thus  symbolized  for  the  fulfilment  of 
the  many  prophetic  announcements  concerning  this  people. 
Every  prophecy  concerning  them  in  the  Old  Testament  ends  in 
promise.    In  the  New  Testament  the  future  of  Israel  and  of  the 

126 


Israel  of  God  as  interwoven  each  with  the  other  is  set  forth  in 
the  ninth,  tenth,  and  eleventh  chapters  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans. 

Turning  now  to  the  Revelation  we  read,  "And  I  saw  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth :  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first  earth 
were  passed  away;  and  there  was  no  more  sea"  (Rev.  21:1). 
If  we  can  ask  and  answer  suggestively  the  reason  for  the  in- 
sertion of  this  last  sentence  as  to  the  sea,  we  may  come  to  a 
clearer  light  as  to  what  is  meant  by  the  first  heaven  and  the 
first  earth.  The  heaven  rules  the  earth  by  its  two  great  lights. 
For  us  everything  on  earth  depends  on  them.  The  tides,  the 
air  currents,  the  clouds,  the  growth  of  every  living  creature 
wait  upon  these  two  rulers  of  our  planet.  So  heaven  stands 
for  rulers,  earth  for  those  who  are  ruled,  if  we  take  for  our  anal- 
ogy people  and  their  rulers.  When  we  turn  to  Daniel's  vision  we 
note  that,  as  he  stands  upon  the  shores  of  the  sea,  there  come 
out  of  it  the  cruel  beasts  that  represent  the  four  great  world- 
ruling  dynasties  when  these  dynasties  are  looked  upon  apart 
from  the  emblems  of  power  with  which  they  surrounded  their 
royal  courts  and  persons.  In  the  same  way,  as  we  turn  back 
the  pages  of  the  Revelation,  we  read  that  one  of  the  seven  angels 
that  had  the  seven  bowls  said,  "Come  hither,  I  will  shew  thee 
the  judgment  of  the  great  harlot  that  sitteth  upon  many 
waters"  (Rev.  17:1-15).  John  saw,  and  it  was  said  to  him, 
"The  waters  which  thou  sawest,  where  the  harlot  sitteth,  are 
peoples,  and  multitudes,  and  nations,  and  tongues."  The 
words  that  follow  mark  for  us,  according  to  prophetic  interpre- 
tation, the  ten  kingdoms  of  Europe  which  at  first  worshipped 
and  served  the  power  that  gradually  came  to  supremacy,  both 
temporal  and  spiritual,  in  the  Papal  hierarchy.  Later  in  mod- 
ern times  they  rose  and  stripped  this  apostate  church  of  her 
rule.  Nothing  else  in  history  answers  to  this  description. 
When  we  read  of  the  first  heaven  we  see  before  us  the  rulers  of 
the  world  from  Babylon  to  the  Papacy,  as  they  ruled  the  earth. 
Do  not  the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth,  where  there  is  no 
more  sea,  fitly  represent  the  end  of  all  this  worldly  control  and 

127 


the  coming  in  of  spiritual  control?  **The  first  things  are  passed 
away."  The  peoples,  the  nations,  the  multitudes,  the  tongues 
are  no  longer  ruled  by  those  who  have  the  spirit  of  those  who 
have  ruled  for  twenty-five  or  more  centuries.  He  that  sitteth 
on  the  throne  says,  ''Behold,  I  make  all  things  new.  .  .  .  These 
things  are  faithful  and  true.  .  .  .  They  are  come  to  pass.  I 
am  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end."  These 
words  give  us  the  idea  that  we  are  with  Him  to  whom  the  end 
is  as  the  beginning.  Things  that  have  not  yet  become  history  are 
spoken  of  as  if  they  had,  because  His  purpose  cannot  be  stayed. 
In  his  vision  John  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  and 
the  holy  city,  new  Jerusalem,  coming  down  out  of  heaven  from 
God.  He  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  the  throne  sajdng,  "Behold, 
the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men."  Then  comes  the  city  made 
ready  as  a  bride.  As  you  see  the  names  of  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel  on  the  gates,  all  the  history  of  Israel  in  its  relation  to  sal- 
vation's gates  rises  before  you.  As  you  look  at  the  foundation 
stones  and  see  on  them  the  names  of  the  twelve  apostles  of  the 
Lamb,  the  story  of  the  church  from  apostolic  times  is  recorded. 
As  you  see  it  lifted  twelve  thousand  furloughs  high  towards 
heaven,  and  look  at  its  proportions,  length,  breadth,  and  height 
equal,  you  begin  to  realize  the  measure  of  the  mighty  plans  of 
God;  but  not  till  you  read  that  the  glory  of  God  did  lighten  it, 
and  that  the  Lamb  is  the  light  [lamp]  thereof,  are  you  ready  to 
read  that  the  nations  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  it,  and  the  kings 
of  the  earth  bring  their  glory  into  it.  This  is  the  pictorial  inter- 
pretation of  the  word  of  John,  ''  God  is  light,"  and  of  the  words 
of  Jesus,  "I  am  the  light  of  the  world,"  and  the  charge  to  His 
disciples,  "Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."  The  nations  are  now 
walking  in  the  light  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb.  For  their  healing 
are  the  leaves  of  the  tree  of  life.  The  thronging  multitudes  who 
enter  the  gates  are  those  whose  names  are  written  in  the  Lamb's 
book  of  life.  To  all  these  is  sent  this  message,  even  as  the  water 
of  life  flows  from  the  throne  for  them,  for  this  is  a  vision  of  earth. 
"And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say.  Come.  And  he  that  heareth, 
let  him  say,  Come.  And  he  that  is  athirst,  let  him  come:  he 
that  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely." 

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